non-existence

2009-01-04T09:11:00.008+08:00

Finally, after a year of hesitation and indecision, I will be semi-moving to LiveJournal.

Post count as of 4^th January 2009, 9:18 a.m.: 3 entries!

2009-01-02T12:37:00.012+08:00

Right. So I am late for the requisite New Year post. And I didn't blog for half a month. But it's all good, because I had a mini holiday project of beta-ing a fellow LiveJournal/CSI:Miami fandom fangirl's fanfiction. It's sort of a way to train myself to minimise my procrastinating tendencies. I still procrastinate, but not as much, so, YAY!

Yup, anyway, the turn of a new year.
My 2008 passed the same way my 2007 did—unnoticed. It felt so unfair that I didn't really get to experience my 2008. But, yeah, whatever. Time really does fly, no matter if one is having fun or just hoping to survive the year.

2009. Oh, 2009. Another 364.26 days of fresh beginnings and opportunities.
I dare not hope much for the year, and I pretty much stopped making resolutions because I know I won't keep to them, but I do wish for a few things, for people to:

Learn that everyone is different.
Accept that no one lives the same way—your way.
Respect each other's differences.
Understand that being different does not equate to being evil.
Understand that not everyone believes in your religion.
Understand that religious teachings don't lord over one's life, but are rather things that teach you to be a better person.
Blame each other a little less.
Respect each other a little more.
Think logically before acting and-or speaking negatively.
Realise that generalising people is the same as being prejudiced against that group of people.
Remember that we are all humans who have to share this living space and will be rubbing elbows with each other and should be treated with equal dignity and humane rights, even if laws and religions say otherwise, because after all, they correspond only to their specific group of people and are not things that define us. It is the compassion we have for each other that make us human, not intelligence nor culture, and it is only too easily forgotten for the sake of forcing our own opinions down someone else's throat.

Let's hope this will truly be a happy new year, because in the end, when all else fails, the only thing we have left is hope.

2008-12-17T11:18:00.017+08:00

The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
- Tom Clancy

Because I hate Twilight so much, I find it fitting to contribute a haiku for the US Haiku day (21 December).

Twilight disappoints,
Undermines feminism.
Bad writing. 'Nuff said.

And don't go around calling Twilight "glorified fanfiction".
Please don't insult the fanfiction community, where I know for a fact that many great (although amateur) writers do exist and are better than Stephenie Meyer by leaps and bounds, because really, she claims to be a feminist? Her books (are they even fit to be called books?) have set second-wave feminism back a full century.
The feminists would have probably committed suicide if they had known what impressionable little girls are picking up from those books.

SAY 'NO' TO TWILIGHT!

2008-12-12T21:52:00.028+08:00

Fashion disaster, thy name is 'Mother'.

Look at that!

LOOK!

And what is that tag? How should I describe it?
Gaudy? Tacky?
I have no words.
The wordings on the tag are actually in GOLD, and some areas were already washed off after ONE run in the washing machine.

(I used the black side of my blanket as a background in hopes that the tee wouldn't look too bad against it. I rest my case. If it looks horrible in the first place, NOTHING, will make it look even an iota better.)

Last weekend she went shopping with my paternal grandmother and despite my multiple warnings not to buy anything for me, and that I can live through one Chinese New Year with no new clothes, she's done it again.
The woman just waltzed into my room when they got back and went "Look! I bought you new tee-shirts!"
I blanched at that... mess. No words could have begun to described the expression on my face, nor the collective of exclamations and curses that hurricaned through my mind.
No words, I tell you.

(She bought two tees, actually. But the other one was just a cheaper, more plain, and deeper red version of an Esprit tee I had, so that's not a valid argument in her favour either. Why buy an almost-duplicate of something I already had?)

First, the colour.
Come on, tell me that was not what caught your unfortunate eyes right away.
I'm fine with stripes. And I'm obsessed with polo tees. The colour? Pure apparel vulgarity.
Tell me you disagree. I'll probably whack you upside the head, though.
There is an unspoken rule about stripes on tee-shirts: Colour contrast.
Grey and pale orange and pale green?
I can feel my bile acting up.

Then it was the fabric.
Perhaps it's hard to tell from the photographs, but already it's stretched and the seams aren't straight anymore.
FROM ONE WASH IN THE WASHING MACHINE.
Even my Giordano tee lasted longer than that, and their tees are notorious for wayward seams that don't survive multiple washings.

My mother was gushing on and on about "Now you'll have something to wear for Chinese New Year!"

The mind shuts down.

She wants me to wear that outside of our house, while we go visit friends and relatives?

The mind explodes.
'Nuff said.

2008-12-03T22:03:00.006+08:00

Went job searching (applying through multiple employment agencies) and window shopping with SL during the better part of our afternoon before meeting with BH for dinner at Astons at The Cathay.

SL and I were totally beat by the time we sat down at the restaurant. We had no idea how women have the energy to shop all day.

SL's theory is that they get to rest when trying out clothes in changing rooms or getting to sit down when checking out shoes, while us window shoppers walk non-stop.
I am just plain boggled.

Anyway, back to dinner.
First time at Astons. Not as expensive as I thought it would be. Phew!
We had our own Don't Forget/Guess the Lyrics!

And I put Britney Spears' Womanizer on loop in SL's mind (it's an annoying song for those who can't see the amusement in it).

Good times. Just gotta love my secondary school friends.

P.S.
I realised I knew lesser modern Mandarin songs (never liked Jay Chou, and I didn't really listened to JJ Lin) but more old/classic ones, and that I knew more old English songs and those from the last decade.

2008-12-01T11:13:00.013+08:00

Your rainbow is intensely shaded brown, blue, and indigo.

What is says about you: You are a deep thinking person. You appreciate cities, technology, and other great things people have created. People are loyal to you and see you as a natural leader. You share hobbies with friends and like trying to fit into their routines.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Me posting quizzes = me busy watching shows online
Whee! =D

2008-11-27T09:03:00.008+08:00

Cheers!
Here's to parents who just can't help being the perfect, ultimate pricks.

How wonderful is that?
We should have more of them! The world will never tire of idiotic people.
Apparently, stupidity kills, but not enough.

* * *

On a happier note, here's another Torchwood fanfiction that I've written as a tribute to Toshiko. I blame it on my biasness towards other Asian characters. And that geeks rule!

Type: One-shot (droubble)
Words: 200
Character(s): Toshiko, team Torchwood 3
Warnings: Character death. Don't like, don't read. Huge spoiler for Series 2 episode 13.
Rating: Gen
Disclaimer: BBC and Russell T Davies own Torchwood. Sadly, I still don't.

Summary: Toshiko knows. And she is rarely wrong.

( All Will Be Right )

Also available on my website. Check the sitemap if you ever get lost.
Leave comments either at FF.Net or at my LiveJournal.

2008-11-24T18:39:00.011+08:00

FINALLY!

My first university semester is OVER.
Assignments: ALL DONE.

PHEW.

Now I can relax and watch the fourth series of Doctor Who. Yayness!

And to all my other friends in NUS and SIM who are still in the midst of examinations, good luck!
Persevere!
And the whole of December will be ours!~

* * *

And before I forget, here's the Torchwood fanfiction that I've completed months ago.

Type: One-shot
Words: 100
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Warnings: Slashy hints and mentions of canon m/m lip-contact. Don't like, don't read. Spoilers for Series 1, episodes 4 and 6.
Rating: PG-13.
Disclaimer:
BBC and Russell T Davies own Torchwood. Sadly, no matter how many tantrums I throw, it will never be mine.

Summary: Ianto could not remember.

( The Last Person )

Also available on my website. Check the sitemap if you ever get lost.
Leave comments either at FF.Net or at my LiveJournal.

2008-11-23T10:18:00.012+08:00

That darn major essay assignment?
Completed and submitted. At the last minute. Or technically, the fourth last minute.

2875 words.

I should stop underestimating my powers of analysis-lengthening.

One more assignment left!
C'mon! I can do this!

2008-11-21T09:24:00.010+08:00

There is much hype about New Media. Critics and advocates alike make what seem to be startling claims. Many of these issues form around the question of technology. Flew (2002) provides an expanded account of "cultural technologies". To what extent are we determined by our technologies of culture and hence communication? Provide significant examples, from the literature, in your account.
(Note: Science Fiction is a great source for hypothetical and not so hypothetical examples.)
LENGTH: 2500 - 3000 words
Due date: 22-11-08, 3:00 AM EST (Australia time)
Major Essay Assignment
CMNS1110 Introduction to Communication Studies

C'mon! 1019 words left to hit the minimum word limit!
I can do this!

(Can't believe I managed to wake up before 9am, even earlier than what I've set on the alarm clock, when I only went to bed at 4am. Wow! I can ~~barely~~ function on less than 5 hours of sleep!)

By the way, I've watched the trailer for Twilight. Shocking, I know, considering my hatred for the series.
Is it just me, or has it finally come to the point where the book is so bad that it sets the first ever precedence of defying the tried and proven 'Book is Always Better than Movie Adaptation' rule? I reserve judgment until I am able to overcome my abhorrence for the Twilight series to the extent of voluntarily setting foot in the cinema to watch its movie.

2008-11-04T20:22:00.006+08:00

Did I not get the memo whereby it officially mentions that in a cinema theatre, throwing popcorn at other people is an acceptable social behaviour?
Or maybe it was simply a subtle request for us to help you stuff that piece of popped kernel up Uranus?

Bloody fucking immature adolescent assholes.

Perhaps I should be less judgmental of the poor beings who are apparently still stuck at the bottom of the evolutionary scale.

2008-10-29T22:35:00.005+08:00

WOOTS! My blog is one in the long list of things that make Pauline-dearest happy.
Yes, darling, I ♥ you too~
(It's the 25th September entry, since the link directs you to her blog's September archive which I can't update until she puts in permanent links for her posts. *Hint hint!*)

Self-importance much?
Hmm... Nope, not feeling the least bit shameful about it.
=)

And~ I'm off to my assignments again.
Less than 4 weeks away from the end of the trimester!
A long break is definitely welcomed.

2008-10-19T20:35:00.034+08:00

OMG.
I cried over a sci-fi series.
Never thought that it will ever happen, considering all the spoilers I've read about the episode but-
OMG I'VE JUST CRIED OVER DOCTOR WHO.

When cyber-converted Yvonne Hartman turned on the rest of the Cybermen, with a single tear from her eye as she defended the Torchwood Institute ("I did my duty, for Queen and country."), I wibbled.
I honestly wibbled.

And at the end of the episode when The Doctor said to Rose Tyler that he was "burning up a sun to say goodbye", I knew there was only one way the episode could end for me.
What finally did it was when The Doctor couldn't say whatever it was he wanted to before the connection got cut off and he was alone again in his TARDIS- with tears running down his face.
=(

Yeah, well. Granted, there were funny parts in the two-part episode too.
Never let it be said that Doctor Who lacks humour.
I absolutely loved the part where the Cybermen and the Daleks were insulting each other.
Let's take over the world! But first, I shall have an argument with the competition!
So amusing.

Russell T Davies is just pure LOVE.

2008-10-18T11:41:00.017+08:00

I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.
- Mahatma Gandhi

Join PETA! And PETA2!

Yeah, well, granted you'd have to be in the US to be able to donate, and that it'll snow in Singapore before I ever turn vegetarian, there are many other animal cruelty acts are just plain disgusting, which you can simply send pre-completed petitions to show that you're not remotely amused (pardon the Doctor Who quote. I have started on series2 of the 2005 relaunch and- can I just say- I am SO loving UK television shows).

Actually, I do have many other things to blog about- but assignment deadlines are ruthlessly demanding my attention and I'm just this close to being dead from flu-and-sore-throat-and-cough (fever is gone overnight, thank goodness), which means that proper blogging will have to be postponed till an indeterminable time.

2008-10-06T20:35:00.026+08:00

OF WRITING ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS...

Cons:

Completing everything alone.
Brainstorming, analysis, explanations, everything.
Spending near to two days in front of the laptop all by myself, rushing to submit a 2000 words essay amidst other individual assignments demanding my attention?
Not fun.

Pros:

Not to sound full of myself, but there had been no "staying up till 4am just to edit the assignment" involved.
I trust my language capabilities, and therefore I can correct myself before the words are being typed out.
Meaning?
Editing is on the spot, no need to lose temper over other people's horrible grasp of the English language while stretching my mad-editing skills to its maximum and trying to stay conscious at 3am with half-asleep eyes (also being stretched to full awake-size but is ultimately a futile attempt), and I get more than four hours of sleep before waking up for another day of school.

Oh well. You lose some, you win some.

Anyway.
The darn minor essay (for CMNS1110 Introduction to Communication Studies) has been completed and submitted.
1954 words.
Just under the word limit. Phew.

Next, website proposal for CMNS1000 Introduction to Digital Communication.
Yayness. Woots.
(Note the sarcasm.)

2008-10-05T10:18:00.019+08:00

McQuail (1994:49-55) identifies four concepts of communication in contemporary Western culture:
1. sending and receiving messages (transmission);
2. forming and maintaining communities (ritual);
3. showing off oneself and one's wares (display); and
4. making sense of the world around us (reception).
Select either a locally-produced radio or television station, a newspaper, an Internet website and analyze the extent to which it manifests each of McQuail's four concepts, providing examples from your chosen media text.
From your analysis of the media text, assess how useful McQuail's theory of communication is to the media of non-Western cultures such as Singapore.
LENGTH: 1500 - 2000 words
Due date: 10-07-08, 2:00 AM EST (Australia time)
Minor Essay Assignment
CMNS1110 Introduction to Communication Studies

Ironic, isn't it, that I am completely robbed of time to churn out a few hundred words for a decent fanfiction and yet here I am, rushing to submit an essay of similar length to a proper chapter of Aki Kitsune.

After which, I still have (no thanks to CMNS1000 Introduction to Digital Communication) a website proposal to redo and a full website interface of at least 6 pages to create (excluding the splash page), complete with original graphics (ie. me slaving away on Photoshop), literary content and the whole HTML coding (ie. more slaving away in front of my laptop). Which is also entirely ironic, when I have no time for with regards to my own website.

And that's not all.
Courtesy of CMNS1090 Introduction to Professional Writing, there's a character profile to do, meaning interviewing someone I hardly know (which I do have an idea of who to look for but am SO not free to plan for right now) plus a review to do on, which has been oh-so-kindly restricted to exclude movie, music album and book reviews.
Darn. And here I was, cackling away (inwardly) at all the sarcasm I can use to "review" Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series.
*Scowls*

Enough escapism. I should get back to writing that damn essay.
Ugh. Am not happy.

2008-09-22T19:47:00.021+08:00

All hail the literary abomination of modern gothic romance:

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series

For us "seasoned" and matured readers, we can't help but NOT like the series that has pre-teens all mad over (especially now that the movie of the first installment will be in cinemas sometime November this year).

There have been numerous character breakdown/explanation/ranting/bitching about the leading male character in the series (Edward Cullen), and here is a more complete argument that I've read.
Also, because I'm too lazy (big surprise) to again explain why I find the series mediocre, here's my reply to the aforementioned argument. It's not much of an addition to the character study the person had already made, but an abridged version (you can't possibly expect me to repeat the full version everytime someone mentions "Twilight") of my own thoughts about the series.

Anyway, a big round of applause for yours truly because today, I have survived an approximately 5 minutes (out of the requested 10 minutes) of my Communications Studies presentation on Habitus- which I've hardly prepared because a) there's not much in the given reading article for me to express my own opinion on, and b) the article is basically just explaining Habitus.
I must have been getting better at impromptu story-crapping.
*Shrugs*

SHOWS! The television shows that I watch are beginning their new seasons in US soon!

Chuck season 2: 29th September
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation season 9: 9th October
CSI:Miami season 7: 22nd September (TODAY!)
CSI:NY season 5: 24th September
Heroes season 3: 22nd September (TODAY!)
How I Met Your Mother season 4: 22nd September (TODAY!)

And finally, my new love- Torchwood series 3!
Still in the filming process (hopefully KC managed to stalked the actors in Cardiff and get some decent photographs for me) and is slated to show in January 2009. At least, that was what I last heard.
Can't wait!

P.S.
Just watched the season premier of Heroes. Am DAMN excited right now.
=)

2008-09-21T01:10:00.004+08:00

I hate lizards.
Actually, it's not hate.
It's fear, disgust, goosebumps-raising chill, shock and stun all mixed into one tangle of emotion for that slimy tail-dropping living organism.

And just when I thought there could be nothing more I could possible feel for lizards, here's another to the mix:

TRAUMATISED

In my attempt to immobilise/banish a lizard from my room, I tried to enlist the assistance of my parents (ie. let them do the work while I cower on my chair/outside my room; see above self-defined sentiment towards lizards), and let's just say that, although I would give anything in the world to have a fangirl!Gwen experience (ie. walking in on a Jack/Ianto moment in the greenhouse/hothouse), I really, really, REALLY wished that my parents had locked their door.
Now I'm conditioned to feel extremely EWW whenever I see a lizard. Ugh.

As pervy as I admit to be, I draw the line at Eric/Ryan and Jack/Ianto.
Why slash and not het, you wonder. Well, I should hardly want to get a "preview" of something that could happen in my future and then scaring and psychologically scarring myself so much that I don't want it when the time comes.

*Shudders*

There's a bloody lock in the door! Please! USE IT.

2008-09-20T18:29:00.004+08:00

Something totally random happened yesterday late afternoon, and I've considered blogging about it at first before changing my mind.

The circumstances about the whole incident was ridiculous- a simple teasing joke, at best. Yet it was strangely private and personal.
I know I'm just being idiotic over something that I'm sure had meant less than nothing, where nothing had transpired, but I don't care. It's a small rush that I haven't felt in a long time and I don't want to share the memory of those two short hours just yet.

Although I really wished I had been less of a bore (at least, that's how I thought I was) then.

2008-08-31T15:06:00.024+08:00

I haven't been blogging much, I know, but what's the point in noting down "I did this, I did that, I went to *insert name of a place* and ate *insert name of something edible*, blah blah blah" just for the sake of it?
Pointless. 'Nuff said. Besides, that's not how blogging should be done.

Anyways, I'm typing this entry through FireFox because somehow, I can't access the Internet on my Internet Explorer.
Tried to install it again- didn't work. Uninstalled and installed it again- didn't work. Uninstalled and installed IE8 Beta 2- didn't work. Uninstalled IE8 and installed IE7 back- DIDN'T BLOODY WORK.

Well, it was just another excuse to not touch anything that required me to use HTML because for some reason, when I toggle between full style text and HTML coding on FireFox, it gets messed up and adds SPAN codes when I don't need it. Plus, I always check the coding after typing in full style mode because I can make sure that the code shows what I want it to show (yes, I'm anal that way).
Imagine the number of times I need to edit the codings each time I toggle between input styles.

The reasons why I keep IE when FireFox works perfectly fine for me are because it doesn't distort my codings, AND, certain China websites that host manga scanlations don't work in FireFox. It's just my luck when only those websites have series that other FireFox-friendly websites don't.
Pfft.

Anyway, my degree classes started just this week and we've already got article readings to do, notes to print and assignment plannings to submit in the very near future.
Speaking of which, I miss note-printing in Temasek Poly. The whole "Bring your own paper and print for free" thing is sorely missed, now that we need to pay 10 cents per piece in PSB Academy.
Shall be heading back to TP for cheap printing. And for BizPark's chicken chop.
*Salivates*

To the horror of all Windows-users' horrors, we have to use iMac for at least 2 of the current semester's modules. It's my little personal nightmare, frankly.
Mac is okay to use, but when you have lots of windows opened, it gets confusing about going where to restore them again.
And I can't use the Shift-Home/-End shortcuts to highlight text. Darn.

At least we have an amusing lecturer/tutor for our Intro to Media Production module:

He wears skinny jeans to class.

Yes. Skinny jeans. Add on to the obvious visual fact that he is quite slim?
*Guffaws*
Even I have more meat in my legs than him.
It's the single most darnest, entertaining distraction, because the moment you really took notice of him in skinny jeans, it is impossible to pay attention in class anymore.
I dissolve into a snickering, giggling mess every time I dared a look.

The one frightening thing about him is that he's only graduated about 3 years ago from his own course.

He is a musician of sorts (which he admits, and one newly-made friend found his MySpace page), which is fine because he knows his way around the media software, but when it comes to the theories behind it? It's an absolute train wreck. You can't bear to watch him attempt to explain things, and yet there's a perverse enjoyment in seeing him struggle to make sense while subjecting yourself to listen to what ends up being more confusing when he's done.

I half wanted to take over the class when he got to the part on frequency, amplitude and decibels. And I almost launched into a detailed answer for another coursemate's question pertaining to that area when minutes later, our lecturer still could not figured out what was actually being asked.
Hey, my Physics may have been the one subject with the worst grade in my O' Levels result slip but I did pay attention in class when frequency and amplitude were being taught.
Difficult not to, when during then we had a better Physics teacher. Who was a little psychotic and a tad sadistic. Then again, almost all our teachers in my secondary school are like that, and he was better at teaching Physics as compared to all the incompetent trainees and substitutes we had afterwards.

All right, work to do.
Have to force myself to be more conscientious this time, which, I can foretell to be quite a feat to achieve.

2008-08-05T18:49:00.031+08:00

We're just animals, howling in the night, 'cos it's better than silence.
- Suzie Costello (Indira Varma)
Torchwood, Series 1: Episode 8

Yes, I have finally started watching Torchwood. I have a very long backlog of shows to watch and I could started on this show only because I've finished the old Season 3 of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

If you don't take Torchwood too seriously, it's actually a very good show.
I mean, it is sci-fi after all.
There are aliens, immortals, time-travelers, cannibals, a glove that resurrects people for a maximum of two minutes for a limited one-time-only... And a pterodactyl (specifically, pteranodon) called Myfanwy that lives as a pet in the Torchwood headquarters.
What's there to be picky about?

There are serious parts too, where humanity, existence and death are questioned. But hey, the deciding factor for me to watch the show was that there's on-screen slash.
It isn't "outright smut" sort of slash, but it's CANON. Nothing beats that.
:D
Plus, it's a British series. Have I mentioned my love for British accent?
Now, when I think in my mind, I hear words in that accent. Probably because I've been watching the show for the better part of the day today. Tsk tsk.

The only thing I don't like about the show is the main female character.
One very obvious reason was because for most of Series 1, she gets in the way between the slash couple. Yes, I am superficial and no, I haven't reached the part where the slash relationship is admitted to the audience.

All right, to delve into said female character, she is always making mistakes that she should not make, she doesn't really have much sense, and she just feels plain dumb to me (how can she not know how to use a gun when she was an ex-police officer?). That gap between her two front teeth annoys me too.
Also, there are things she did and decisions she made that my morals wholeheartedly disagreed with.
Simple put, the mere existence of her character irks me.

Not to mention that she only has one facial expression:
The "Shocked by something I have seen/ Shocked because I have committed yet another mistake" wide-eyed look.
It was kind of reminiscent of the Harry Potter movies where all Daniel Radcliffe could do was to look shocked at every single thing.

Or perhaps I'm just being pissy about her because SHE'S MESSING UP THE CANON!SLASH COUPLE!
Grr.

2008-08-04T08:32:00.002+08:00

I don't need to psycho-analyse myself to know that you are the ones who have made me the way I am today.
So don't try to pin your faults on me.

2008-08-03T21:27:00.016+08:00

Work has finally ended after all these months. Well, precisely it was over on Thursday but I am- like many know- lazy. Not to mention that procrastination is one of my many negative habits that I have a lack of shame for.

And I need to plead for forgiveness because, dear Mother Earth, I have sinned.

Let me back up a bit.
I was asked to join the department lunch on Friday (yes, technically, I'm not an employee anymore but hey, I'm well-loved. Hah) to reward ourselves, sort-of, for the good P&L (Profit and Loss, for those who knew nothing about accounting) of the previous financial year. It was a pretty prestigious Chinese restaurant, Man Fu Yuan, at the InterContinental.
And as Chinese restaurants go, if it's a supposedly good and definitely expensive meal, shark's fin soup is almost mandatory.

I felt so guilty having to eat it.
It was my favourite dish since I was young, back when I was terribly spoilt by my grandparents and my grandmother will order one serving for me on almost every trip to any good Chinese restaurant.
When I began to understand what it meant for an animal species to be endangered, I told people around me that I would never ever willingly eat anymore shark's fin soup.
It was also around that time when the cruelty of finning was brought to the attention of the Chinese in Singapore. There were television shows that interviewed the public's opinion on the issue, clips that showed what finning was like, and ultimately the fate of the finned sharks. It was sad and downright revolting, to cut out the single part that was needed and throw the shark back into the water to leave it for dead.
It further solidified my stand on not wanting to eat that dish.

Sure, there would be people who argue that they are just food, like beef and chicken. But hey, those livestock can be reared in huge numbers. And those meat, like beef, has its own taste.
Shark's fin is tasteless.

Imagine if a group of sentient beings decides that human tongues are a delicacy and goes around cutting everyone's tongue out, leaving them to bleed to death, just so the tasteless organ can be cooked in a big pot of soup with dozens other random foodstuff for many hours so that the piece of meat can absorb enough flavour to be eaten.
How pointless is that? And, the soup is practically good enough on it's own with (or without) other usual everyday meat, without the shark's fin.

Back to Friday's lunch.
I had no choice to eat the dish because it will be just SO awkward when the meal has already been paid for and suddenly I announce that I am not eating one strand of shark's fin because I feel the need to protect this other animal that shares our living space, that it's inhuman to encourage the need for this food and then reminding everyone at the table about the sadistic nature of how it is obtained.
Which is why I could only complain to my mother about needing to eating the dish that I've long decided never to have again.

Finning should be illegal.

2008-07-29T19:02:00.009+08:00

Nope, Asia's not in the Path of Totality on August 1^st.
Bummer.

Mother dearest, we won't see a total solar eclipse because by the time the Sun starts to pass over Singapore, it wouldn't be in perfect alignment with the Moon, which in turn will not be able to fully block out the Sun.
Being in almost direct hit of the Sun, thanks to our being 1° North of the Equator, does not make it more difficult for us to witness a total solar eclipse.
In fact, your explanation is entirely UNRELATED.

I cannot even begin to lament the lack of your logic.

Isn't it just strangely wonderful how the many phenomenons witnessed on Earth are brought about by mere coincidences? One such as the Sun being 400 times further from us than the Moon, but is at the same time 400 times wider in diameter? Their apparent identical sizes to us is what makes total solar eclipses possible.
Coincidences are such awesome things.

2008-07-23T20:14:00.015+08:00

I love rainy days, I really do.
I am also quite partial towards the gloomy, pre-storm moments.
There is something about the barely-see-through curtain of unforgiving rain and harsh winds that can make you feel alive and humbly aware of how small and isolated you are amongst natural occurances.
Somehow, the heavier the storm is, the more it comforts me. Even better, if it was an unrelenting thunderstorm. It is somewhere along the line of "fatalistic beauty" that manages to appeal to both my artsy side and my tree-hugging, all-things-Geography-related-equals-AMAZING side.
Everytime it rains, I find myself falling in love with the world just a little more than I already had.

The only bad thing that comes out of it is when I'm in an air-conditioned room while the rain tries to compete with Niagara falls in the 'Volume' category.
Freezing, enclosed air?
Hello, epic headache with capital-H.
If I'm lucky, it will just annoy me for a few hours. But more often than not, it hardly goes away until half an hour after I wake up the next day.
I suppose there will always be something to hate about the thing you love.

Speaking of nature, I'm sure people who watch Discovery Channel have already heard this:

(Link)

(30 seconds version)

(Live perfomance version, different lyrics.)

Discovery Channel is LOVE.
And they're on Facebook!

2008-07-21T23:08:00.004+08:00

This time, this time, we are all really starting to learn to be our own person.
Learning to grow on our own, alone; leaving our old comforts. There's an intimidating note of finality to it. And it starts to get difficult to recall how our friendships began.
It's scaring me.
This is only normal- the next step in life.
It doesn't necessarily mean that I like it.

I miss you all.

2008-07-16T20:19:00.009+08:00

And once more, I can see your face- and that silly grin- again.
I suppose until now, nothing can be enough to overshadow that ancient and insanely ridiculous two-year crush.
It should have held less weight by now.
I should have gotten over it long ago. I thought I had.
I am close to succeeding. Trust me.
But, just let me indulge for a while more, now that I know it isn't impossible- the day when I will no longer remember everything about you.

2008-07-03T23:54:00.005+08:00

I don't like this.
Every ache that used to bring up an image of your grin is suddenly replaced with a harder jolt that brought forward a different face, and I freeze up for a moment every time before it all gets banished by an old wound- the constant reminder of why I don't take risks anymore.

I don't like that the memories are being written over so easily. I know they are already far behind us. Still, they used to burn so distinct and bright.
I refuse to acknowledge the fact that a simple admittance of something I had long known was enough to obscure all that history.

And I don't like it that any small thing was able to make me question, doubt, and over-analyse everything.
This wasn't supposed to happen. I can't lose control now, not when nothing is set in stone yet. By the look of things, it would only get worse when it is. It would be the end of it all, me giving in, losing to - this.
Wasn't this supposed to be all fluffy and sparkly and clear skies and freshly cut grass and calm and warm?
Why didn't I get any of that? Why are there only questions with no answers and aches that cut my breaths short every few seconds?
I've been tricked. The things I've always known are crashing down and shattering around me. It's like learning Santa isn't real all over again.

This is driving me insane. Why is that even possible when you haven't really done anything?
Why? Why? Why?
You- ugh.
*Deflated sigh*

I'm over-thinking again.

2008-07-01T23:35:00.004+08:00

The only thing that can clear my head now would be a very heavy dose of veritaserum.
Then again, it's a ficticious potion.
And honestly, I don't think I'm ready to want to hear the truth from my own mouth just yet.

2008-06-30T20:08:00.004+08:00

I hate it when I'm not in control.
I hate it when my thoughts get pulled along by other things I don't want to contemplate.
I hate it when I'm not sure what I want.
I hate it when I'm not as brave as I think I should be.
I hate it when I'm don't have an answer when I need one.
I hate it when the answer's probably there and I'm just too stubborn to let myself fall and accept that answer.
I hate it when I'm annoyed at the one person I vehemently do not want to be annoyed at.
I hate it when I need to chastise myself after all the above has made me forget about my friend who definitely needs more attention now than anyone else I know because of her loss.
I hate it when I don't know what to say, what to do for that friend when I so desperately want to do anything for her (because without her, I'd only be L². And it's nowhere as amusing as L³. Yeah... our logic. She'd understand).

And YOU.
What do you want?
I'm apologising- hell, I'm grovelling.
I'm not psychic. I don't have the answers you want to hear.
Can't you just let go of your own pride and just tell me what you want?
What? WHAT? WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?
WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?
WHATDOYOUWANT? WHATDOYOUWANT? WHATDOYOUWANT?
WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DO YOU FUCKING WANT?????

I fucking hate my life.

* * * * *

Anyway, on a happier note:

Junjo Romantica (Pure Romance)

Oh gosh. The manga was funny already. Seeing the characters in action in the anime somehow made it even more hilarious.
And, wow, there's enough angst to satisfy the angst-junkie in me.

*A little warning*
It's a BL story, meaning it's yaoi.
If you don't know what that means, it's better you don't watch it, so I won't get blamed for whatever trauma you get from the anime.

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10
Episode 11
Episode 12 (end?)

2008-06-29T14:02:00.004+08:00

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test ...
English Genius
You scored 100% Beginner, 93% Intermediate,
100% Advanced, and 80% Expert!
You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly!
Way to go!
Take the test here. Answers available at the end.

Haha.
Am pleased.

I don't know where we're heading; we're halfway to nowhere.

2008-06-28T03:26:00.003+08:00

On one hand, there's everything I could need.
On the other, there's everything I want.

And I'm stuck in the middle, confused and frustrated like hell.
Damn you for putting me in this predicament.

2008-06-27T15:16:00.005+08:00

I've finally posted the new CSI:Miami fanfiction that was completed last Tuesday.

As usual, I'll use the excuse of my laziness and procrastinating nature. And that I'm almost half-asleep by the time work ended to do anything productive when I get home.

Type: One-shot
Words: 360
Pairing: Eric/Ryan (HardyBoys)
Warnings: Slashy hints. Minor spoilers for Season 5 episodes 14 to 16 and 18.
Rating: PG-13.
Disclaimer:
CBS, Anthony E. Zuiker, Carol Mendelsohn and Ann Donahue own CSI:Miami. I don't own anything related, save for some avatars.

Summary: Eric Delko's stubborn determination was not the only thing that kept him away from more screw-ups.

( Back on Track )

Also available on my website. Check the sitemap if you ever get lost.

Now that all the crossposting is done, I can breathe easy.
It's such a tedious work, checking all the HTML codes, hyperlinks...
Phew!

2008-06-22T13:45:00.008+08:00

Why is it that you can say just one sentence and it turns out to be the one thing I needed to hear?
Guess I've underestimated the hold you still have on me.

Sorry, Phoenix, I'm too tired (and lazy) to think of something long-winded to blog about. And what I'm blogging about today is something that we've talked about last night.

Anyway, Nix was saying that it was getting lonely after we graduated from Polytechnic and I replied along the lines of "What, it took you three months to feel that? I felt it like, two weeks after graduating!"

So I had another (minor) rant about everyone being impossible to contact or being totally unhelpful. Let me demonstrate what I meant by "unhelpful".
You see, I'm very forgiving (it's the forgetting part I have a problem with, but that's not the point here), so I'll overlook the part about not knowing this "friend" had a boyfriend until I read about it from someone else's blog, and that it had been a few months already.
Yes, it's a stupid and inconsequential thing to get pissy about. It's not like they're tying the knot or something, but friends tell each other these things. I've even told her things that I know meant little significance to her.
Thinking that I shouldn't complain so much and instead be more initiative about keeping a friendship afloat, I smsed this friend and asked her if she had downloaded the new Firefox 3 because she uses it too. I thought it'll be a sufficient opening for a conversation.
All she replied was, "No"
There wasn't a fullstop, too. How convenient of one-word answers.

Naturally, I got annoyed, and wondered how things can be so different when it's no longer natural to see each other almost everyday of the week. To think that I've considered her to be one of my closer friends in my diploma course.
Sometimes I have no idea why I even bother with such people.

2008-06-20T22:06:00.004+08:00

I have solved one of my latest mysteries.
I dream in colour.
Haha.
No, really. Dreams are hazy, I know, but I remember seeing colours.

Anyway~ There's a new anime!
The original manga is by Minekura Kazuya-sensei!
I've been waiting for months for this.

BUS GAMER
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3 (end)

2008-06-07T15:41:00.001+08:00

I have a confession to make.
I am perfectly capable of tripping over my own feet.
True story.

Oh, and my legs tangle up when I try to swim, which is one of the reasons why I gave up learning to.

2008-05-26T20:04:00.003+08:00

Someone please shut my mother up.

There's nagging, and then there's annoying.
And then there's motive for murder.

EDIT:
Thank the heavens! Chuang Yi WILL be publishing WILD ADAPTER book 6!
Phew!

2008-05-24T21:17:00.003+08:00

I hate LiveJournal.
Seriously, is there a need to take away free ad-free accounts?
And why in the world should I even pay to have an online journal?

Am going to use WordPress instead.

How I Met Your Mother, season 3, Episode 20

2008-05-17T10:51:00.003+08:00

I really should do something about my deviantART account.

In the mean time, I've got LOADS of shows to catch up with.

How I Met Your Mother, season 3, Episode 19

2008-05-13T21:01:00.004+08:00

I had this random inspiration for another CSI:Miami fanfiction about an early Season 6 episode when I was watching a much later episode. Strange, I know.

Type: One-shot
Words: 700
Pairing: Eric/Ryan (HardyBoys)
Rating: Gen. I think my pervy alter-ego has taken a vacation.
Beta: WY, at the risk of losing his "manly-ness". I thank you for your courage.
Warnings: Slashy hints. Squint hard to see it. Don't like don't read. Minor spoilers for Season 5, episodes 22 to Season 6, episode 4. WY says it doesn't get in the way of the fanfic, though.

Disclaimer:
CBS, Anthony E. Zuiker, Carol Mendelsohn and Ann Donahue own CSI:Miami. I don't own anything related, save for some avatars.

Summary: For everything he could not understand, there is another that he knew crystal-clearly.

( Perfect Sense )

Also available on my website. Check the sitemap if you ever get lost.

2008-05-10T11:02:00.004+08:00

Maybe I'll try to recapture my writing momentum.
Or maybe try to do something with my deviantART account.
Or maybe...

I don't know. I suppose I'm in that "the same day repeating over and over again" mood that depresses and questions me about the purpose of existing.
Am tired in every meaning possible.

How I Met Your Mother, season 3, Episode 18

2008-05-01T19:49:00.005+08:00

Am tired.
Spent my whole afternoon of attempting to make ice-cream (didn't work out. I don't have an electric mixer to do it properly), macaroni and cheese (so-so. Cheese sauce was a little grainy) and minestrone (best outcome. Family was too full after the mac and cheese to appreciate the minestrone, though. Then again, it was supposed to be consumed before the mac and cheese in the first place. *Shakes head in despair*).

How I Met Your Mother, season 3, Episode 17

2008-04-28T19:21:00.002+08:00

How difficult can it be to write smut?

Turns out, VERY difficult.

2008-04-27T08:54:00.004+08:00

Stupid me.
I actually forgot that How I Met Your Mother had resumed after the writers' strike ended.

*Off to watch the episodes!*

How I Met Your Mother, season 3
Episode 12
Episode 13
Episode 14
Episode 15
Episode 16

2008-04-21T21:41:00.003+08:00

When I am the one who has to choose, do I actually need you to inform me to go and make the decision?

How much more nonsensical can you get?

2008-04-19T23:16:00.019+08:00

Ah... The long overdue proper blog post.
Firstly, more of my baking episodes.

A few weeks ago I tried to bake a New York Cheesecake.
With lemon.

Looks perfect.
I'm amazed by my first attempt at one of those "temperamental" cakes.

Looks good?
Problem is, I bought banana essence instead of the vanilla ones.
And I used it before my sister finally asked
why I'm baking a banana cheesecake.

People! Put the items back in their right tray and don't confuse the next person!
Although, I suppose I'm a little at fault for not checking the label.
Humph.

Here's what I did with the banana essence, and a new bottle of vanilla essence
(I checked the label this time).

Banana cake!

Fabian asked why it's not rectangular.
Hey, it's not my fault that the only mold I have is circular.
It's hardly going to affect the taste, anyway.

メッチャ美味しい!
I don't care if it might sound biased- it does taste good.

This is the mashed banana (mixed with eggs)
that was used in the cake, by the way.
Fabian said it looked disgusting.
Hello? As if the finished cake was going to look like that.

That's the Chocolate Cheesecake I baked last Friday
for YM's (belated) birthday.

YM cutting the... difficult-to-cut cake.
Cold cheesecake is really hard.
Or maybe it's the amount of cheese in that recipe.
My father called it a brick.
Both physically, and the way it fills up your stomach.

Should have used more crushed Oreo biscuits for the bottom.

Went to the Singapore National Stadium last Saturday with SL.

It's kinda sad that it'll soon be torn down
for the contruction of the new stadium.

The whole atmosphere will be completely different; all high-tech and stuff.
There's something unique and special about how the current stadium felt.
Yes, it looks run-down, even kinda messed up, especially the wet floor and wooden seats after a rain, but it's part of the country's history.
More than 40 years of being sat on by Singaporeans,
and year after year of National Day Parades held on its grounds.
I can't help but feel a sense of loss, somewhat akin to
when a small, old eatery that had always been there in the neighbourhood
was going to be renovated into some new, bright restaurant.
It feels foreign; impersonal.

What's that?!
That, is my secondary school flag.
And we were at the stadium that day to support TK Band
for the SYF Outdoor Display Band competition held every two years.
It has been a tradition since we've entered TK seven years ago,
a school event, even.
Although SL and I are way graduated,
it's a habit that we find impossible to break.

TK Band!

And~ the ending formation!

Digressing a little.
I was busy snapping photographs of the stadium
because the new one won't have those lights.
*Points upwards*
And I wanted something to remember.
I'm just sentimental that way.

The flag!
The guy standing on the right of it is a senior
who's even more graduated than us
(by at least two years, if memory serves me correctly).
Like I said, a habit difficult to break out of.

More photos of the lights.

Post-competition.

For the first time since 1998,
we didn't get the Best Outdoor Display Band award,
even though we still had the Gold with Honours award.
Stupid [curses]Deyi[/curses].

Still, one has to admit that after our batch, our major CCAs
like the band and the choir (W00Ts! TK Choir! *Ahem*)
hadn't been able to match up to the standards
we've done our darnest to maintain back then.
Of course, our batch is still the best. Am not biased!
*Shifty eyes*

TK Band may have lost this year, but we're still the only school
who has the Best Outdoor Display Band for five consecutive competitions.
And there's always 2010.

Everytime we go back for band competition, I'm always overcome by how much I miss the school. Every cheer is still fresh in my head, and the school song still resonates in my mind.
Plus, it helped to have better lyrics than the tacky stuff most other schools have.
Honestly, other than the obvious reason of supporting the school for the competition, it's also to feed my selfish need to experience again how it used to feel, being in the sea of white and green (and red, blue, purple and yellow. Who's the dumbass who came up with the idea of houses? TK is WHITE and GREEN. We don't need other plebian ideas and colours! And- goodness- purple clashes with green in the most DISGUSTING way).
There's a connection I have felt nowhere else. There's a palpable bond we have with each other, and with every cheer and shout given in perfect unison, there's no doubt that it's practically tangible; that everyone knows it's there.
I mean, there has to be a reason why graduates from so many years ago come back every time for school events.
Also, the person who mans the chicken rice stall in the school canteen comes for every competition, and is just as enthusiastic as the rest of the school body throughout the affair.
How cute is that?

Now, before I continue with the rest of the post, I must first reassure anyone reading, that I'm not suicidal. Sure, I've contemplated it, but it's a wasteful way to die. And everyone know's how I am when it comes to wasting things.
Anyway, moving on~

That's a cut I got from packing documents into cartons
to be sent off for storage at some warehouse.

It looks mild on a photo, but honestly, it's nasty.
I didn't realise it until I was washing my hands and it started to sting.

Here's another cut I got from who-knows-where.

That's a healed scratch on my left foot
that I got from the edge of the cupboard under my desk.

Seriously, in the one month of working in this company,
I've gotten more paper cuts than I would usually get in a single year.
I should claim hazard pay.

Now, after more than two months of using my laptop on the floor because my desk had too much mess piled up on it, it's finally back on said desk!
I suppose it's also a good thing for my back, no more bending over for hours every night.

I've decided that I had procrastinated too long
through the final examinations, and work, blah blah blah...
Took the whole afternoon to reorganise things and clean out my room.
The dust was horrible.

My now tidy table!

Look at the floor!
No clutter! No mess!
You can even tell that it's wood!

I reckon my room will stay this way until next year.
Or, for another month, at least. To be objective.

2008-04-17T21:32:00.007+08:00

Saw a friend from primary school on the bus on my way home from work today.
And I decided to not go say "Hi" to her.
We were ok friends back then, being in the same choir and stuff. It wasn't as if she hated me and that I couldn't stand her. It's just that my mother sprouts poetry about her; obviously comparing me to her even when she proclaims that she's doing nothing of the sort. Pfft.

It's difficult not to feel a little vindictive towards her after enduring so many years of verbal annoyance.

2008-03-28T08:05:00.000+08:00

Last workday of the week!
Major YAY!-ness!

*Goes off to work*

2008-03-24T22:55:00.059+08:00

It is very disheartening, when (pardon the obvious currently inflated state of my ego) people whom you've all along thought to mean enough to, just blatantly forgot about that day in your life that signified the anniversary of your existence.

Okay, so I don't really give much thoughts to my birthday, other than it's the one of many that compels us (my secondary school friends and I) to meet up, because we're all too busy with the different things in life that our birthdays end up being the only days when we can truly free up mutual hours to spend together.

But still, it stings that people who you think are friends enough didn't say anything, and had practically disappeared off the face of the earth since graduating from Polytechnic.
Not to mention that I had found out about a somewhat important life-event only through someone else's blog.
Can you believe that?

Then again, there are those who I've never expected to remember my birthday who have sent me well wishes. And I hardly talk to some of those people (as compared to the previous category of I-guess-friends), and at least one of them was someone I don't recall ever telling my birthday to.
And where does that put the rest of you, whom I've been patiently waiting for a message from, whom I did not dare hope to receive a message from, whom, as a result had my mind dancing and singing in an irritating chorus of "I told you so!"?

Pssh. Whatever.
I should curb my tendency to complain. I like to complain. It's an outlet for me to utilise my vocabulary when I'm in the mood, and when my mental thesaurus is feeling sufficiently cooperative.
Still, it's a nasty habit, and I should try to reduce the quantity and frequency of which I rant.

Anyway, today was my first day of working alone. Like, really alone, because the other guy who was helping me along the first few days went back to his studies and thus I had a miniscule controlled and calm inner panic session on Sunday because, what if I'm still as muddled as I was two weeks ago? What if I screw up? What if I felt stupid to the others working there? What if...

Ah... Bad habit number two: Paranoia.
I drive people (and myself) nuts with it.

Well, as it turned out, things weren't too bad today. At least, not as bad as my fatalistic mind had made it out to be.
*Huge sigh of relief*

One day at a time. Just gonna take one day at a time.

It's bittersweet, the hold you still have on me.
And yet it's pathetic, how I allow you to remain having an iota of propriety over my being. I won't say it's my heart that you have, because you didn't have it, and I was too young and not well-versed with the workings of people-relations enough to know how to go about giving it.
What you had was my time, hours I've wasted when I could get home earlier to get some rest and TV time just so we'd sit together for twenty minutes during the bus ride home, then chat for another ten minutes at the risk of my mother getting annoyed for my not getting home faster. A risk I took, because it's you, and that you're only less than a metre away from me.
You had my attention, and I didn't recognise it until years later, that you literally had me from "Hello." I grinned because you appeared at the extreme edge of my peripheral view; I laughed because you were laughing from something we said; I never fail to know just where you are if you're near enough for me to know.
Sometimes it hurts like an ache (clichéd, but true), when memories resurface. They still do. And then I'd take a moment to relive the past, of how young we were, and how foreign it all felt that it took two years and a friend to state things right in my face for me to finally see it for what it was.
I've thought about you today, although I can't forgive myself for doing that and had rolled my eyes at how uncharacteristically sentimental I was being.
I've always berated myself over the irrefutable truth that you had- still have- such a loose but definite hold on my mind, both conscious and subconscious.
I was waiting for the bus to take me to work, at the bus stop where we used to wait for the other bus that would take us to school. I've never admitted that I had begun taking the insanely-early bus just so I could spend thirty minutes more with you, have I?
So I was waiting for the bus today, far enough behind the stand that I was at the void deck of the HDB flat instead, in my highly-uncomfortable heels and breathing in toxic gases from some inconsiderate person who was smoking upwind, when I had this sudden urge to walk the few steps to the front of the bus stop so that I could look up at the apartment unit where you used to live just across the road.
I bet I could find it in a heartbeat, not needing to count up the number of storeys. Needn't ever, since the first few mornings when you waved to me from the corridor in the school uniform and with that silly grin and I had wished that the bus would be slow enough so that you could catch it, because that way we'd both be on it.
Then I realised how foolish I was in that moment this morning, so I focused on what my iPod was playing instead.
On my way home today, I got on the bus that passed by our secondary school. When it did, my eyes went straight for the first seat at the bus stop opposite the school's side gate. In my mind I saw the two of us racing to get that seat, and I bumped my finger on it in the process. You won, and I whined about a hurting pinky.
I feel really dumb now, that these things still seemed like yesterday to me; that it's just as fresh in my mind as if it had happened mere seconds ago; that you were grinning that silly grin and I was rolling my eyes at you.
It is really stupid. Even more so that I'm here blogging about it after so many years. And I'm annoyed at myself for periodically succumbing to the already-faraway recollections. Yet somehow, it's all right, because I really need to get this off, even though I know it'll be a long time before I can no longer remember the old days, the hour-long Saturday phonecalls, that thin scar in your right eyebrow, and that sparkle in your eyes.

2008-03-23T12:12:00.009+08:00

Oh, the dreaded 20!

First thing I did as a twenty-year-old (gosh, that sounds strange):

Clean (mop) the kitchen floor.

Okay, that was too random and really, who wants to know?

Anyway, first, gotta thank Fabian for calling just a few minutes past midnight because he wanted to wish me happy birthday, even though we're both on MSN Messenger and I wouldn't mind if he said it over the Internet instead.

I'm a low-maintenance friend, really.

And in chronological order (because I'm marginally OCD that way (technically, I'm not, but I can be obsessive sometimes)) of SMSes, thanks to:

WY, Rashidah, KY, YM,
HE (whom I've known since kindergarten, the poor girl),
BH, Jon, Chuan, Phoenix and KT!

Then there's Noel, for uh... the well wishes sent through KY.
Better than nothing, I suppose =)

And of course to SL, BH, JT, Samantha and QJ for the card, and KY, YM, Fabian and my sister for the presents, although I wouldn't mind if there isn't any.
(Note aforementioned Low Level of Maintenance.)

Last, and most definitely not least, darling Pauline for "singing" for me on my tagboard.
Which, reminds me, I'd better go get a screenshot of it.

Love you guys LOADS!

Oh, look!
A new chapter of Lacuna!
Can today get any better? =)

2008-03-22T23:14:00.012+08:00

March 15th. Got woken up real early to have breakfast with the family at the KFC where Big Splash used to be.

* * *

A few weeks ago, I've finally received the stuff that Pauline sent from USA.
In a box that she had drawn hearts all over of.

So sweet =)
Just gotta love that girl.

My (much-anticipated) iPod Nano Second Generation.
8GBs. Woohoo~
Haven't the time to properly organise every song I have
so it's only got English songs for the time being.

Planet Earth 5 disc DVD box set!

I've still got 3 discs to go
(which equates to 9 hours of documentaries).
Sir David Attenborough is TEH VOICE for nature documentaries.
And the series are just SO GOOD.
It's like watching/learning Geography all over again,
along with natural history.
Something about that combination just sparks the curious scholar (G33K) in me.

* * *

I've started work near Suntec, in this building called The Concourse (which I think lacked serious planning when it was first built. To me, it felt more like an office building rather than the shopping mall it had been partially intended for), for an American agricultural MNC with about 140 years of history and blahblahblah.
During the interview, I had the impression that work would be highly stressful but after the first few days spent in the office, PFFT, it's nothing compared to the chaos of my internship company.

Anyway, just two days ago on Thursday, I met up with KY, SL (my L³ partner!) and BH for an early birthday dinner at Kenny Rogers (Marina Square branch).
It's quite a small group, but it's nice to catch up with them, especially since everyone's busy and birthdays are when we take time out to spend together.

Our spread.

Hail the holy Macaroni and Cheese.
Yum.

The Before.
(That thing KY's poking her fork at? Our Pork Pie.)

Tastes just as nice as it looks.

And the After.

I find it truly amusing, BH's messy assortment of chicken bones.

Me passing my camera.
Thus continuing my tradition from last year
of showing a photo of myself without really showing my face.
Hah.

My (really sudden) birthday (cup)cake that KY (secretly) bought.

Was a little miffed at first because she had disappeared for such a long time in the bathroom (presumably) and on top of the fact that she's the friend I've known for the longest time and...
Then she shows up with the cupcake and candles and I just melted.
Shh... don't tell.
I'm not supposed to be so sentimental.

And that's the necklace she gave me,
of which I made a face and, isn't that a tad too "girly" for me?
And she replied, "Isn't that the point?"

And the card they made.
Had fun reading all their messages.
Especially JT's! Gosh, she's as rubbish as ever!
=)

* * *

YM and Fabian came over this afternoon
to recreate that chocolate thing I did last month.

YM wrestling with the butter and sugar.
And then realising that they needed to be mixed together.

YM melting the chocolate.

Apparently, not many people know what "folding" is.
Had to stop her from whisking the whole mixture.

Fabian, finally contributing some effort.

A little interlude,
because my mother thought those vessels look like ghost ships
out there in the sea and under the heavy rain.

Back to our baking.
Did some with the choc-raspberry filling
(because my grandmother and those two didn't get to try it before)
and the rest without, because my parents think they taste better that way.

The tee-shirt those two shared to buy for me.
YM remembered my obsession with polo-tees!

Love the graphic on the inside of the shirt.

Love all my friends even more for all the things they've done for me.
=)

2008-03-02T18:16:00.005+08:00

Went with KY for the Arts, Design and Media faculty intake test at Nanyang Technological University yesterday morning after about three hours of sleep (because KY, who had stayed over, refused to sleep before 3am) following by almost 2 hours of travelling from one end of Singapore to the other.

I had to work a little faster with the few sketches we all had to complete along with other narrative ones in just an hour and a half.
Considering that it's been a long while since I've really sketched something at all, I was quite satisfied with one of the sketches I did as an answer to one of the questions. And then there was one where we had to write 150 words (okay, so I wrote more than that) short story using twelve words from the much longer prompt list that was given.

Take that, Mr. Writer's Block!
Although it isn't really counted as conquering WB as I had no choice but to write it, I was very pleased with what I came up with. So last night, I tried to recall it as accurately as possible so that it can be uploaded.

Flight
Crossposted on Musings, FictionPress and Livejournal.

I tried to login to FicWad but for some reason, I couldn't. And it's been hours since I've reported about forgetting my password and nothing's been sent to my Yahoo! account at all.
How agonisingly efficient.

Anyway. Coincidentally, I've written an essay with the same title for my O'Level English paper four years back, albeit with a more literal interpretation of the word. What's this affinity with "Flight" and tests, seriously?

2008-02-27T22:20:00.009+08:00

And~ my two examination papers are over!
After which (because it was a morning paper and thus giving me more free time for the rest of the day) I went to the Marine Parade library on my way back home and collected Twilight (by Stephenie Meyer), which I've reserved a few days ago, then headed out to Parkway with my mother about an hour after to... get some stuff.

What stuff?
Behold! My very first post-examination project!

My very first try at baking. As in, really baking.
None of those half-arsed Home Economics rubbish.

This is the sauce (filling, however you like to call it).
It's raspberry juice (squashed and drained by yours truly)
with melting chocolate and cream.
This was the step where I made my first mistake:
I forgot to heat the mixture while stirring,
which obviously makes it easier to mix everything together.

And that's how it looked like in the end.

Then it goes into the icecube tray.
Which was a pain to get them out again,
but it has oil from the chocolate and the cream
so with some prodding and poking, VOILÀ! (Ahem)

I had no idea that a 250grams bar of butter could be that much
when it's not in it's regular shape.

This is the batter for the dough, also using chocolate.
Has anyone spotted my real reason for choosing this recipe?

With all other ingredients in (eggs and butter).
Looks all gooey and gross, but it was fun to mix
because I did it all by hand without a mixer.
Very good exercise for the arm (hah).

My second mistake!
Forgot to use the raspberry jam,
but it turned out all right without it, so, MEH.

I think the moulds I bought were actually meant for pudding making,
but the muffin trays that were available were all too shallow.
I find that it's better when the dough's filled to the brim
because when it rises post-baking,
it's a good leverage for easing it out of the mould.

Yes, it's all dark. Had me worried for a moment
because it had looked a lighter brown on the recipe.

*Drumroll!!!*

The sauce-icecubes?
It's used to make that liquid filling that just oozes out
when the muffin's cut open.
(That's my grandfather's thumb, by the way.
*Random info!*)

Yes, my muffin and my creepy eyes
because I'm just about dying to eat it already,
what with all my obsessive phototaking.

Fresh raspberry sauce is actually quite sour
without the usual additives like sugar and whatnots to mute it.
But it balances whatever sweetness
that's left in the dark chocolate muffin so it's just plain YUM.
And the harder crust at the bottom is SO GOOD.
I kid you not.

I can't believe it, my first attempt and it's already GREATNESS!
(Don't mind me, I've been hyper ever since my exams ended.
Even my parents thought I had a screw loose today.)

I think my muffins are darker because I used 70% cocoa chocolate
instead of the 67% in the recipe.
Can't remember which brand it was, just that it's from Switzerland.
It was actually not bad, because unlike most dark chocolates
that looses the velvety thickness with the lesser milk contect,
the brand I used didn't.

Plus, it was easy to measure because one bar was exactly 100grams
so I needn't break them up and weigh it again to get what I want,
considering those like Cadbury sell at 125grams or something.
(Yes, I'm lazy. It's like, common knowledge.)

And~ it's all gone!

Recipe's here, and I might consider doing some of the others on that website.
I still have 8 servings of the muffin left (technically) waiting for me to bake them.
Anyone feel like coming over some day soon?

2008-02-22T13:40:00.006+08:00

Can't believe how stupid people can be sometimes.

Was watching Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader last night and my goodness, the guy gave up on the million dollar question.

Hello! MILLION DOLLARS???
And the question was so easy:

"What's the smallest prime factor of 8?"
Or something along that line.

Goodness.
Even if one's not good with prime numbers, it'll take at most 5 seconds to come up with the answer (which is 2, in case you're just like him).
Let's not even start with how he calculates the summation of 11.5 and -14. I've never seen anyone count the way he does.
If I were his wife, I'd be totally disappointed instead of cheering him on just because he decided to stop and leave with half a million. And money isn't even the reason at all.
To think that the contestant used to be in a gifted programme in elementary school.

Such a *facedesk* (or if you prefer, *facepalm*) moment.

2008-02-20T12:00:00.016+08:00

All right! I'm back after a really long hiatus.

Firstly, Final Year Project was over. Finally.

My presentation cue cards.
I never want to see them again.

And after that came the career fair, but before that, I went to buy the contact lenses that I've been talking about for months.

I am still getting used to them, and for some reason that has escaped me, the left lens always feels weird on my eye.

Anyway, there wasn't much on career fair and the day had been a somewhat let down because throughout our FYP period, the LOM coursemates have been talking about treating ourselves to a good meal after the dust had settled, so to speak, but the dinner trip (where we were supposed to go after the career fair) was cancelled just because a) it was raining and b) it can't be decided whether to eat at the Clarke Quay or at Katong.

Ah... Whatever.

Watched two movies recently; Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (with Fabian) and Jumper (with YM).
Sweeney Todd was a tragedy from the start, really. And if it weren't for Johnny Depp and the promised bloodspills, I wouldn't have watched it (because I'm such a sucker for happy endings). The blood was, in my opinion, unrealistic and over dramatic ("Free-flow." Like what Fabian said), which is actually a good thing, in this case. I mean, the movie was originally a musical in the first place and the blood made the movie even more theatric and haunting.

Jumper was SO COOL.
I have no idea why some reviews were on the negative side, but really, for a movie based on a novel, obviously it won't be as good as the original. There wasn't much delving into the character of the protagonist, but hey, what do you expect from a novel-turned-movie that's less than two hours long? Besides, the action scenes pretty much made up for all that.

Next! Minekura Kazuya-sensei's updates!
(A little slow of me, but just pardon that; FYP has been cruel to us.)

BUS GAMER 1巻が発売開始!
BUS GAMER TVアニメ放送日時決定!

BUS GAMER!
No, it's got nothing to do with public transport, it's just a shortform for BUSINESS gamer.
Yeah, so it should be BIZ GAMER instead but English isn't exactly Japan's first language, you know.

There was a Pilot version back in 2004 (or was it 2003?), some sort of one-shot, but now Minekura-sensei's starting the series! Woohoo!
The first manga will be out in Japan on 8th March. Hopefully Tongli will be translating it. If not, I'd be left with Chuang Yi and I don't exactly sing praises for Singapore's manga publishing company.

And the anime's coming out too!

CAST

美柴鴇: 鈴村健一
Mishiba Toki (Seiyuu: Suzumura Kenichi)
Just realised that he's the seiyuu for Hitachiin Hikaru in Ouran High.
>_< Squee!

斉藤一雄: 高橋広樹
Saitoh Kazuo (Seiyuu: Takahashi Hiroki)

中条伸人: 諏訪部順一
Nakajyo Nobuto (Seiyuu: Suwabe Junichi)

It's supposed to start mid-March in Japan and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone out there will sub it.

And, finally!
Have been busy the past few days, getting ready the portfolio for NTU's ADM course in Visual Communication. It isn't my first choice (Communication Studies is) but it's a good enough back-up so I might as well prepare for it.

Went down to the beach at East Coast Park with KY and her friend, Chuan, along with my sister (because no one was home to look after her then) to snap some photographs. First time on a bicycle after too long. And of course, as many already know, I can't cycle, so we took the double bikes and I just sat behind and tried not to freak out or fall off.
Did some night shots along Katong too.

I have no idea what that is.
I'm guessing it's the roots of the trees,
exposed by storms and waves.

A cigarette butt we found by Chuan's foot.

Julia will freak out if she sees that photo.

Yep, the moon was quite bright that night.

Red light!

Green light!

Those were just a tip of the iceberg. I've taken 251 photographs in all.
Yeah, I know. Total madness.
Put a camera in my hands and I do crazy things.

2008-01-24T15:18:00.001+08:00

*Staying in school until 9pm (plus?)*

If you dislike a person, no matter what he or she says, it will always sound grating to your ears. You will only wish for that person to stop talking, because it takes a damn lot of effort to maintain a polite smile throughout the whole forced conversation that no one else (bar said person) finds entertaining. You will find fault in everything he or she does, a "nail-on-black-board" sound with every word he or she says, a need to roll your eyes at every behaviour of his/hers, and the compulsion to just straight-out ignore aforementioned person. Of course, you will feel no shame and regret about accumulating negative karma when making snarky, sarcastic and cynical remarks or innuendoes about said person.

Can't wait for the final FYP company presentation.

2008-01-20T11:19:00.001+08:00

As each year passes, I find myself losing the excitement and subconscious feelings that foretell the coming of a festive season or public holiday (like Christmases, New Year's Day, those sorts) and this year, I don't even feel the rush to get new clothes for Chinese New Year (perhaps this uncaring-ness has something to do with the consistent adding of years onto my age? I don't know).

I mean, other than the fact that the few relatives I would actually enjoy seeing on the first day of the lunar new year are over at Australia and the ones "leftover" are mostly the un-entertaining sorts (which lowers the need to buy something new to wear), we're all bogged down with the Final Year Project, the coming company and school presentations, and not to mention that university applications start in February (*gasps* so near already?!), so there really isn't any "shopping" mood to speak of anymore.

Although, I can always tell when Chinese New Year is coming: dry snacks and pineapple tarts in the kitchen cabinets, and the clear, scratchy sound of my grandmother frying a wok-full of coarse salts for nut roasting.
And of course, the insistent reminder to start cleaning my room.

2008-01-18T15:30:00.000+08:00

Met up with the Secondary school friends (JT, BH, Samantha and QJ) yesterday for JT's belated birthday dinner at The Cafe' Cartel.

This is one reason why I never order ribs when we eat out.
All bones and messiness. Can't put them anywhere else, too.

This was my order. Chicken stew with rice.
With chunks of onions (yum) but JT took the largest one.

QJ having nothing better to do after finishing her food.

QJ's mangled carrots.

BH putting her feet up between me and Sammie's legs.
And to think that she's the one who's overly conscious about hygiene.

QJ writing random stuff on the serviette.

I've planned to have a frappe and an ice-cream at first,
but we were all too full to have anything else other than the cakes.
Half price after 9pm. Which is good for my forever-tight budget.

QJ's (half-eaten) oreo cheesecake.

The bitter chocolate fudge that I shared with Sammie.
Wasn't bitter at all, but isn't too sweet, which is good,
since I'm more partial to less-sweet chocolates.

JT and BH shared a bitter chocolate fudge too,
but the angle made it difficult for me to get a good shot of it,
so this is still a picture of the slice I shared with Sammie.
Look at the thickness of the chocolate fudge!
YUM.

I think it's pretty obvious, my obsession with chocolate.

Well, the first birthday dinner of 2008 ended nicely, with QJ bumping into a pillar (when we left our table) and apologising to it.
*Guffaws*

So the next problem is, where else to go for the next person's birthday dinner?

2008-01-12T22:21:00.000+08:00

Hate morning afters.
The morning after a night of pounding headache (having daggers stab at the brain for five full minutes after waking up? No, thanks), the morning after slogging until 4am for a report (and spend the rest of the morning and afternoon just a little awake enough to not be defined as "asleep" and operate on auto-pilot), and the morning after NAPFA.

I am positively decomposing. On a bed of spikes. Large, twisted spikes.
My legs ache when I move them from their stagnant position, and my diaphragm hurts when I cough or laugh.
It must look pretty hilarious, the strange waddle I do whenever I had no choice but to move around the house, not unlike a ninety-year-old drunkard, walking in too-crooked lines to be sober and groaning as if I was ancient.

Ugh. It was never this bad back in Secondary school. Oh well, time to face the fact that I'm getting old. Or the alternative is that I've dropped "Exercise" from my own dictionary (not that it has ever been voluntary, anyway) and that I am not being as healthy as experts dictate that we young people should be.

Yes, I'm chin-deep in The Nile.
I find that very comfortable, thank you very much.

2008-01-11T23:00:00.000+08:00

The sky was very clear tonight (thanks to the rain), and the dark backdrop was dotted generously with stars. It was the most number of stars I've ever seen at one time, and many of those I saw tonight were impossibly large and bright. But it seemed as if I was the only one who bothered to walk with my head tilted back just so I can take in the sights for as long as possible without knocking into anything. Where has it gone, our appreciation for the small, simple things that can feel so large in our hearts and pull up the sides of our smile?

2008-01-07T19:45:00.000+08:00

Well, here's the first post of 2008. And I can't help but fangirl about the new album that I bought today:

L'Arc~en~Ciel's KISS!

Love the simple but classy photoshoots in the album jacket.

It came with this small sheet of stickers,
which I intend to ogle and drool at, instead of using.
I mean, who in their right mind would bear to use it?

It's a really good album. And I'm not just saying this because I'm biased towards L'Arc and all (which is normal behaviour, you know, considering how GUH-ish-ly godly they are). This isn't one of those Japanese albums that only the songs that came from the singles are good. ALL the tracks are amazing.

Am falling in love with DAYBREAK'S BELL all over again.
hyde's husky murmur in the verses are simply to die for.

I suppose this is where I stop my fangirling?

2007-12-31T19:24:00.000+08:00

What?
It's the last few hours of the last day of the year already?

Why is it that I have none of those "a year is coming to a close" feelings? Not to mention that I have no idea that 2008 is just around that corner.

I mean, I'm aware of each passing day of the week, just not of days with respect to the year.
Such a sad, sad sign of growing up; losing the simplest joy, even if it's just watching each day being crossed off the calendar.

All right. I figured that there isn't any use of me to make new year resolutions because other than the fact that it has never been a tradition of mine, there's a high possibility that I'll not adhere to them anyway, thanks to my high prowess of procrastination.

Heh, whatever.
*Waves hand distractedly*

I'll attempt to complete Aki Kitsune before 2008 ends. Hopefully.
Right, having one goal is more than enough for such a lazy person that I un-shamefully am.

On another note: my new LiveJournal site! Because the older one had a longer and therefore more tedious name to type.

. Arietis .
ariietis.livejournal.com

2007-12-28T14:42:00.000+08:00

People would rather believe in fairy godmothers than think that you took charge of your own destiny.
- Jed Reston
Just Ella, by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Another book finished!
It's a simple, alternate universe story retelling of Cinderalla without the magic and with more defiance against pre-destination.
It kind of looks like a children's book, what with the hard-cover and larger-than-ant-length words. But it's a good read, and I like it. Well, not as much as I adore Angels and Demons (Dan Brown), but it's still rather nice.

Oh, and can the AMPTP people just give the Writers Guild of America what they want?
All thanks to the strike I've got no more interesting shows to watch. And I know that speaks for more people than just myself.
*Grumblegrumblegrumble...*

2007-12-25T22:40:00.000+08:00

Hurry Xmas, by L'Arc~en~Ciel.
(Need I even point out how adorable HYDE is in that PV?)

Well, that's about as "Christmas-sy" as I'd ever get for this year.

Other things done:

1.
Gave my sister a Creative ZEN Stone Plus. 2GB.

2.
Played Cluedo with my mother and sister for the first hour and a half of Christmas.

3.
Had champagne. Raspberry flavoured.

And... That's about it.
Talk about a lack of festive cheer.

2007-12-24T13:07:00.000+08:00

Remember, if Christmas isn't found in your heart, you won't find it under a tree.
- Charlotte Carpenter

A sad sign of reaching adulthood:
You find that Christmas is (alarmingly) quickly losing its appeal.
All the excitement and anticipation of finding presents in socks hanging over the far end of the bed is vanquished by the many mathematical logic that it's 100% impossible for Saint Nicholas and his team of flight-enhanced reindeers to come popping by every house on Earth at exactly the stroke of midnight of the same day.
Let us not forget the lack of chimneys in modern homes.

Not to mention everything becoming annoyingly commercialised.

Oh, and you'd know that you have a very grave problem when you don't realise it's Christmas Eve today until you saw the date while reading online comics (Yahoo comics).

コミックス『WILD ADAPTER』6巻
2008年2月25日発売

Finally! The next WA manga book will be out early next year!
But, considering how irritatingly inconsistent Chuang Yi translates, I could wait as short as one month (like I had this year, since my WA fanfiction was done before my birthday with minor spoilers for book5 and said book was published in Japan towards the end of February) or I might not even get it until May next year.

T-T

2007-12-21T19:33:00.001+08:00

Just for the record, you people out there, the shortform/abbreviation for Tanjong Katong Secondary School is TK.

TK.
Not TKSS, nor TKS. Those sound so plebian.
And TK is definitely NOT plebian.

Students are called TK students.
None of those crappy, pretentious "TKsian" nonsense.
It sounds so much classier, TK students.

And for the sake of those who haven't been keeping up with news and stuff, it's NOT called TK Tech (and even back then it was THE top technical secondary school).
Tk has, for your information, stopped being a technical school since 1993.
Please update your general knowledge or else all graduated TK students will gladly come after your blood.

This mildly pissed off rant is hereby brought to you by a very disgruntled ex-TK student who noticed that there are still fools out there who have too much of a narrowed mindset about neighbourhood schools.

2007-12-20T23:51:00.000+08:00

We are the intention and the act, the strength and the weakness, the light and the dark, the individual and the whole, the magic and the miracle. Not alone. Just not together. Never alone.
- Timekeepers, sequel to Waywalkers, both by Catherine Webb

Yes!
Three books down (finished Fragments, by Jeffry W. Johnston today during data collection at the FYP company) and... One more to go! Well, five, if I include the books that my sister borrowed, recommended by me.
And by recommendation I meant me reading through the blurbs at the back and on the front book jacket. If I am intrigued enough to want to read it and it's not too complex for a twelve-year-old, I let her read the blurb and see if she wants it.
It's about time she starts reading materials other than illustrated children's book.

I'm going to the Secondary School registration with my mother and sister because, well, she got accepted into TK and I wanted an excuse to go back there at least once this year, seeing that my friends and I missed that chance on Teachers' Day.

I think I'm a person who lives in the memories.
Good or bad, or even those I'd rather not remember but thanks to Murphy's Law, they'd resurface every once in a while just to spite me of ever creating them.
I like memories, those that make me smile stupidly before I realise it, or even those that make me blush and mentally berate myself for having been so embarrassing once.
Memories truly are the only few things that cannot be tainted by time, only becoming more revered and treasured, the way years temper and seal a wine so that it will taste that much better when you needed a reminder of it in the next decade.

I've begun to imagine, if there weren't so many people tomorrow, at the registration, that if it was just me and that building that had been my home and refuge for those four years that lasted too long and ended too fast...

I would stand at the Assembly Plaza, facing the flags and looking into the canteen from four different angles; the four classes I've been in as each year pushed us to the next. On the right I'd have an obscured view of the walkway leading to the sidegate. In the mornings there'll be latecomers running in, late mornings will show students mulling about after recess, and from the afternoons to evenings, people will leave in sparse groups. Opposite the flags, I'd see the Design and Technical Block and know exactly where the Choir notice board is; first on the right, next to the staircase, updated only in about- oh I don't know- at best two times a year. Facing the board and turning to my right and up, there'll be the rotunda, where THE music room is.

I'll climb the six flights of stairs up to the thrid floor, walk around the music room (because the first door is always locked at first), shake out of my shoes to put them at the entrance, walk in the semi-circle room, and lie down on the wooden floors. Light brown, a shade darker than wheat, I can still see it in my mind. I'd look up at the highest point in the ceiling- it's haunted, it's said. I'd imagine it'll concern the conductor more, seeing as he sits right under it while he teaches us songs. Or, pronunciation of songs, since we don't usually speak Latin when it's got nothing to do with choir.

Then I'd walk back downstairs and across the bridge/walkway that hangs below the belly of the music room to get to the school hall. The wooden floorings are more darkly-coloured there. I'd hear the squeaks of school shoes when P.E. is conducted there during rainy days. I'd hear how bored we sound during the necessary but still boring emergency fire drill lectures.

I'd leave then, using the corridor outside the staff rooms, past the second floor entrances to the auditorium and the heritage museum between those two entrances (and it sounded so... impressive; Heritage Museum. It's merely a nicely done plastic/fibre-glass wall of events dating back to when the school was first founded. All right, I won't deny that it is nice), turn left to the staircase when I reach a corridor on my right that will lead to classrooms E, F, G, H, down the stairs, turn left, walk straight to the end, first class on the left: Classroom 4D.

I won't bother looking for my name that I've writting on my desk prior to graduation. It wasn't there the last time I looked. I think I might still find KY's though. Smartarse wrote it on the underside of her desk. I'd find a seat closest to where mine used to be. Then I'd look at the whiteboard and I'd see the memories of leftover Geography notes, an orderly chaos overflowing the finite board. I'd see the after-image of the words written in blue, green, black, hardly red, because we've compained that it's difficult to read red words from a distance. "Oceanic plate... prevailing winds... monsoon... population density... Why the estate in CBD costs higher than... New Towns are..."

I'd hear our Chemistry teacher's not-funny-at-all jokes, our Maths teacher's "Are you all alright?" which sounded more like "Aw-lite?" I'd remember singing anime songs with KY under our breaths to pass the time when our Chinese teacher had once been annoyed enough to make the whole class stand at our seats. Not forgetting, of course, our History teacher's sarcastic and sadistic mental illustration to demonstrate the deathtoll in certain wars of the past. Oh, not saying that it wasn't entertaining; I'm very welcoming when it comes to sarcasm and fatalistic thoughts.

Reminiscing felt good.
In those moments that I remembered, there was a marginally larger lack of care for the world and the foolish things mankind was doing to it. Less care for the unforeseen future. More of the Here and Now. More madly self-inflated confidence about the universe that lay under our feet.
I guess there's a reason why you only get to be an adolescent once.
It's a drug; an addiction you don't want to lose when you come to understand how good it felt, and you only want it to go on and on and on and on...

You can escape from anything, if you know how to go about it.
- Sam Linnfer
Waywalkers, By Catherine Webb

2007-12-16T11:36:00.000+08:00

I've went to the library yesterday afternoon to pick up a book I've reserved, because silly me didn't realise that the book I've borrowed weeks ago had a prequel.
So I'm putting aside that second book (Timekeeper, by Catherine Webb) for the prequel, Waywalkers.

And I never should have browsed through the bookshelves with my sister (whom I've dragged along because her PSLE was over and she's having her holidays, which I think would be a waste of time if she spent 90% of it on Neopets) because, thanks to my book-loving nature, I ended up borrowing books that I am very sure I have no time for, what with Major Project, Distribution Centre Management tutorial homeworks (don't get me started on the mandatory quiz I did yesterday. Was cursing our tutor while attempting to complete it), and the need to continue writing Aki Kitsune.

I've noticed that my preference in books kept changing, over the years.
It used to be those... simple stories like Sweet Valley, The Babysitters Club... You know, those books that girls read before and/or while reaching the point where they decide that they feel more matured than their physical age tend to say.
Then there's the mystery stories, science fictions (like Animorphs, because I like animals too. And there's more action there than SV and BSC), when I was still vehemently firm in the standing that novels are b-o-r-i-n-g and long-winded.
After that came the period where my reading materials consisted of only mangas. Ah... Rurouni Kenshin is still a classic, as far as I'm concerned.

Out of nowhere, back in 2004, just because I was bored, I borrowed Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, which is such a cool book that I've ignored my "'Novel' is the noun for 'Boring'" assumption, and all I've read after that were the fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries sort.
And because the alternative is romance novels, which, in my mind are dreadfully predictable: girls meets guy, guy is rude, girl hates guy, they keep bumping into each other, starts to secretly like each other, cue strange misunderstandings, sort-of-heartbreaks, cue confessions, happy ending. I don't even need to read to know the ending.
I guess that's the beauty of it; everyone being promised of a happily ever after. And the happy endings are the only part I like in romance novels.
All right, I admit, I'm a sucker for happy endings in any story.

And now, thanks to all the fanfiction I've read, I realised that I'm more likely to be interested in stories involving vampires, werewolves, devils and Satan (or maybe Lucifer sounds more classy) and perhaps a little bit of pirates.
I think I see a common factor here: blood, possession, sarcasm, fights, sinful seduction of sorts...
Really, am I the only person who thinks that any part where a character has a vampire stuck to the neck via pointy fangs is hot?

How I Met Your Mother, season 3, Episode 11

2007-12-15T13:34:00.000+08:00

I hate being sick.

It's such an irritating feeling of weakness and dependency, which is frustrating when people (by "people", I mean "mothers") keep telling you to drink disgusting herbal drinks when all you want is just having them fawning over you.

Dependency at these times are just so... I don't know, stupid.
Hate having the need to want to depend on someone.
Makes me feel so stupidly incompetent.

That's How You Know, from Disney's Enchanted.
Lyrics here.

Really adorable movie. Or maybe it's just that I'm biased towards Disney movies.

2007-12-12T19:05:00.000+08:00

Yes, I recognise that, to a certain extent, I am an expendable.
Although, the knowledge of knowing that doesn't make it easier to bear with.

And hey, it's always been me, me, me, ME.
I know that sounded conceited but it does make me feel oddly stranded, not having the same command of power that I used to have.
(I swear, this is as stuck-up as I'll ever get. Rest assured that this is a one time occurrance.)
You see, that's the one complication that comes from wanting to hide achievements so that you won't attract too much (frustrating) attention, yet wanting others to notice what you're good at without being too self-important about it.

It was strange, angsting while I was supposed to be focusing that attention elsewhere.

Oh, and life threw yet another torture at me.
This morning, I was about to switch on and off the main switch to our modem by reaching behind the metal-framed computer desk in my parents' room, when I moved too fast and crammed the little finger on my right hand into said metal frame.

The finger crunched at the knuckles, beyond its normal moving range, against the frame and it hurts like bloody-hell-I-was-cursing-non-stop-for-10-seconds sort of pain.

Now the pain in the finger is being a menace.

It hurts when I write because I'm right-handed, and when writing, the injured finger has to be folded beneath the rest of the fingers and pressed between them and the paper.
Then, naturally, it hurts when I flex my fingers.
The damn thing even aches when I'm not doing anything with it.

And- oh no. Oh no.
Is it just me, or does that finger look just a bit more crooked than it's twin?!
*Horrified, shifty eyes*

2007-12-11T21:17:00.001+08:00

Real life is being irritating.
And that's one simple but very good reason why people write or draw to escape reality and create their own, even if for just a fleeting moment.

And I would gladly dive back to my stories, if not for real life.
Behold, the paradox of real life forcing you to create a self-made reality, then proceeding to throw so many things at you that there's no time for anything else.

All right, time to head back to boring old real life.
Why not just shoot me and get all these over with?
Ugh...

2007-12-08T19:49:00.000+08:00

YES!
The SIP report is finally complete!
Now all I have to do is to just finish up all the miscellaneous appendices and the last weekly reflection in the log book, and I'll be ready for submission on Monday!

Although there are still things to do, especially for the Major Project that my Final Year Project group is doing on YL and Julia's attachment company, as long as we stay on schedule, hopefully it won't be as rushed as the damned SIP report.
And now that the more urgent deadlines are met, I can have some moments of rest before we resume work on the project on Monday.
Whew!

Heroes, season 2, episode 11a, 11b
(Broadcasting has been put on hold due to the Writers Guild of America strike)

2007-12-04T23:12:00.000+08:00

First day of Final Year Project at YL and Julia's attachment company (because YL's our FYP group leader).
Was... strangely tired the whole day, and just thinking about that SIP report that I have to finish by Friday night just made me feel that much more disheartened.

Played with Julia's new handphone this afternoon, Sony Ericsson W580i.
She has the mobile Sims2 game on her handphone and I was fiddling around with it when I've accidentally made her Sim gay.

Uh... Strangely, just making two Sims talk is sufficient to make them "fall in love", no matter the gender (which, I think reflects reality, contrary to what the bigots have to say about this subject).
Well, my inner slasher was squeeing fangirlishly, while the rest of me was still in disbelieve over it.
Further playing with the game, I've somehow gotten the two Sims married.

Inner slasher: Woohoo~ *jumps for joy*

2007-11-30T20:48:00.000+08:00

65th (and last!) day of internship:

It's over!
It's over!
It's finally over!
Whew!
*Wipes off imaginary sweat in one overly dramatic motion*

How I Met Your Mother, season 3
Episode 9
Episode 10

Heroes, season 2
Episode 10a, 10b

2007-11-29T22:41:00.000+08:00

64th day of internship:

Well, work was the same- as usual- just that I didn't need to pay for my meals today.
Why?
Let's see, for lunch, one of the sales people treated the office to KFC because he is now a part of the management staff (other than being the director- of sorts- of the direct sales staff) and as for dinner, the Operations staff and the admin/receptionist treated me as a farewell dinner.

We went to the SAF Yatch Club after work, and it was pretty darn cold because it started raining then. Coupled with the wind blowing from the sea, it was as if winter could happen in Singapore.
It was my first time eating curry fish head, by the way, and the curry sauce was heavenly.
Thick, salty and spicy...
*Salivates at the memory*

But here comes the part I'd rather put off or procrastinate about:
Updating my internship log book.

Ugh.

ONE more day until the end of internship!

2007-11-28T21:14:00.000+08:00

63rd day of internship:

Woohoo~
*Whistles*

There goes another day; just one day closer to the end of internship!
And I'm getting a farewell dinner from the Operations people tomorrow!
Yes, it's just for me, me, ME!
*Evil, satisfied laughter*

Well, on a... not that exciting note... I've got to go start on completing my internship log book.

Countdown to the last day of internship: 2 days

2007-11-27T21:13:00.000+08:00

62nd day of internship:

Sometimes I just can't stand the sales people.

They're like this bunch of overgrown children who throw tantrums as and when they fancy, then expect others to bend to their random and unreasonable whims just like that.
If something wrong happens, they don't care whose fault it is; they'd just blame it on the person nearest to them.

Well, screw you, I says.

Countdown to the last day of internship: 3 days

2007-11-26T20:52:00.000+08:00

61st day of internship:

I've broken my record of the number of Release Orders for touch-up jobs finished in one day.
Eleven.

The touch-up jobs just kept coming today.
It was... Totally insane.

One second I was filing those checked and returned ROs, and the next, I had to put them down to write a touch-up RO.
I could go photocopy something for- what, half a minute?- and I when I come back, there'll be another RO waiting to be written.

Now, I'm just having a lot of trouble coming up with something to give the Operations and the receptionist as a farewell gift.
I suppose when one stops drawing for quite a while, rigor mortis sets in (metaphorically, of course), and it somehow hinders the part of the brain that comes up with inspiration.

Dammit, brain!
Work with me!

Countdown to the last day of internship: 4 days

2007-11-24T23:33:00.000+08:00

60th day of internship:

Was in a total rush today.

Rushing to finish editing the installation workers' over-time hours, file all the invoices that I haven't the time to for the past week, and by the time I noticed, it was already noon and there was only an hour left for us to tidy our desks (and practically the whole front office area) because people from Channel News Asia are coming on Monday to film and interview our boss, so there might be a chance that they'd see our office.
It seems unnecessary to let them know just how messy our work area really is, no?

Then... there are things that we had idea where to put them, so we resorted to the best method that had ever existed: hiding them.
Behind calendars, inside ringed-files...
Besides, those people will only be there for a few hours tops.

And I'm still waiting for the next episode of How I Met Your Mother!
When is it going to be uploaded?!

Countdown to the last day of internship: 5 days

2007-11-23T20:23:00.000+08:00

58th and 59th day of internship:

I am finally done with calling up each installation worker to check their over-time hours, so all that's left is tidying it and submitting it to the HR assistant tomorrow.

It's so irritating when someone comes at a fixed time each day to rush you to do the same thing that you'd be doing with or without being reminded.
Hey, it's not like I'm so free that I'm waiting for you everyday to tell me to start doing my task.
For your information, I have to assist the Operations staff, which meant getting information for installation workers, making phonecalls, keeping track of over-time hours, helping with service calls and finding information on past jobs for touch-ups.

And all that happens at anytime of the day.
Do you really think that I'd stop doing all of that just so I can do your job? You should be glad that I'm even helping you.
I know I can get things done before work ends and rushing me will only make me slow things down just to spite you, or one day I might just end up losing my temper at you, which, I have a very sure feeling that it won't be pretty.

Also, could they stop transferring the same calls out over and over again over the PA system?
If none of us are picking up, it simply means that we are not free or that we are already on another line.
Do you have any idea how frustrating and murderous it makes someone feel when you hear:

"Operations, line *. Operations, line *. Urgent."

for 4- 5 times in a row in a span of less than 30 seconds?
And add to that her airy and overly saccharine voice.
*Vomits vulgarly*
Use your brain and get that arse to call back later, won't you?
Everything is urgent; just what makes you think that the call we're answering at the moment is less important than the one waiting for us to pick up?

One of these days I'll end up being the one shouting all the way to the back office that "We're ALL on another line, DAMMIT!"
Other possible vulgarities not guarenteed to be kept unspoken of.

Countdown to the last day of internship: 6 days

2007-11-21T20:52:00.000+08:00

57th day of internship:

There goes another day of attachment.
Was darn tired and woozy (is that even a word?) after lunch when I had to search for a billing slip, that had obscured price, date and method of payment, from two thick files of them (all those words and numbers. Oh, the horror!) because that slip wasn't there but the customer was sure they had paid.
Then, the admin/receptionist realised that there was a duplicated record in the system (no thanks to the admin/accounts people), where the first record was already correctly billed and all... which was why we began our louds exclamations of frustration and irritation.

I didn't manage to finish updating the top-up and returned materials today because I've started to tally the installation workers' over-time hours and made calls to confirm their total hours with them (and this takes up loads of time).
And halfway through updating the information about the materials, I was suddenly told to edit (and update) the list of guests (I'm guessing) who are the more... regular customers of the sales people's and are going to be invited to the company's annual Dinner & Dance.

She told me to make that day free.
I'm like, can I not?
Considering that she's sort of in-charge of the arrangements, she'll probably find a way to persuade someone who's directly responsible for the D&D to give it a theme like Glamourous! and I'm not too crazy about finding something I'm sure I will not like and will not be wearing for a second time after that night.
Such a waste of money.

Heroes, season 2, episode 9a, 9b

Countdown to the last day of internship: 8 days

2007-11-20T22:44:00.000+08:00

56th day of internship:

I seem to be able to find time to steal for slacking amidst all my daily tasks.
Which is either a good thing, because it can mean that I'm getting more efficient, or it's a bad thing because it also shows how good I am at slacking/skiving so that I can do my personal stuff.
Although, it isn't as if the other staff don't do the same, surfing the Internet, I mean. Most of them have their MSN messenger logged on too.

To "atone" for my slacking and to make myself look not-that-free, I did more filing today than I've had for the past few weeks. And I've photocopied invoices and stuffed the originals into envelopes to be mailed.

Yup, it's another pretty peaceful (as peaceful as this company will ever get) day, albeit a little... dull.

Countdown to the last day of internship: 9 days

2007-11-19T23:58:00.000+08:00

55th day of internship:

Well, pretty much did all the routine stuff, plus helping that sales person type another project quotation and write some transport claims for the installation workers.

Even though it seemed slow when SIP first started, it actually felt like the past months have just disappeared and that internship is ending soon.
Woohoo!

( TP SIP E-Journal, 5 of 5 )

Countdown to the last day of internship: 10 days

2007-11-18T16:08:00.000+08:00

54th day of internship:

Saturday (yesterday) passed faster this round.

Helped one of the sales people do some minor typing and major editing for a project quotation.
Never knew that reporting typing skills would actually come in handy, along with the patience when it came to adjusting alignments and numbering bulleted points.

And knowing that a formal letter ends with "Yours Sincerely" instead of "Yours Truly".

When work ended, one of the Ops staff, the admin/receptionist and I went to Singapore Expo to

1)
Take a walk around hall 5 for the Asia Pacific Food Expo.

2)
"Spy" on the sales people who were in charge of our company's booth in hall 6A.

We guffawed when we walked pass one of the interior design booths because we remembered how that comfortable, nicely made bed with beautiful bedsheets had looked the night we went to pass 2 packets of floorboards to our installation workers:

Mouldy, yellow, tattered mattress... And let's not forget the holes in the fabric.

We made a stop at Novena before heading down to the Expo, because the admin/receptionist needed to visit her friend, who was hopitalised at Tan Tock Seng Hospital for tiring himself over work (don't we all ended up doing just that?).

While having lunch there along with some random chatting, I realised that there are... conflicts of interest, between the admin/accounts and the staff in the outside office.
And that it's prudent to be wary around the admin/accounts staff because obviously, my giving them a benefit of my doubt won't be reaping anything positive for me.

So much for me thinking that it's just her who's having a bad influence on them.
Turns out my grandmother's right (the way she always is right); birds of a feather flock together.

Anyways, the Expo food fair was all right, and that when you exit the exhibition hall, you'd suddenly realise that the stalls sell mostly the same things.
But we had fun, so that offsets everything else.

I have no idea how some people are able to shop the whole day away.
Just walking around for a few hours was enough to tire me out, not to mention the crowd.
Oh gosh, the CROWD.
It's a common knowledge, what crowds do to me, so I was dead beat by the time I got back to my aunt's place.

Had almost 11 hours of sleep.
If it weren't for my protesting bladder, I'd get to slept longer.

Has it got something to do with the fandom?
Somehow, my CSI:Miami fanfiction had surpassed the Wild Adapter fanfiction in a mere week.

That feels... a little alarmingly disappointing.

2007-11-16T20:15:00.000+08:00

They say that each night, when the duties of state permit, she climbs, on foot, and limps, alone, to the highest peak of the palace, where she stands for hour after hour, seeming not to notice the cold peak winds. She says nothing at all, but simply stares upward into the dark sky and watches, with sad eyes, the slow dance of the infinite stars.
- Stardust, By Neil Gaiman
"Epilogue: In Which Several Endings May Be Discerned"

52nd and 53rd day of internship:

Yesterday was... kinda fun, because after the usual work routine, we (that is, the Operations staff- minus one of them- and me) took a "company sponsored" trip down to Singapore Expo where our installation workers were preparing for tomorrow's exhibition at different contractor companys' booths because one of the booths didn't have enough materials, and none of our drivers were free to make a delivery.

*Of course, it was a relief to spend even more time away from her.*

After deliberately arriving late at the karaoke (because the Operations staff wasn't too crazy about going in the first place, while I had been steadily losing my initial enthusiasm when I realised that I would inevitably hear her sing), the 4 of us sat there, feigning interest at other people singing, and then I realised our room had a pool table.

Unable to resist- and also at the thought that I'd get a good challenge, seeing that the ones playing are the guy sales people- I asked to play the next round.
I think that they had decided not to be too hard on me, since I'm a girl, and a student at that (should have seen the face of the sales person whom I had asked to save me the next round. It was as if I told him Singapore was snowing), because instead of playing against one of them, I got to play with one of the guy's wife.

And here's the thing about me playing pool:
I play good when the other person is good.
I play pathetically when the other person is rubbish.
'Nuff said.

So despite my typically horrible long shots and equally bad (at least to me. Apparently, they were all shocked at how I could play), I still won, which was nice nonetheless, considering that everytime I had won in the past was because my then-not-yet-ex kept deliberately letting me win. That, is a worse feeling than losing, because I would be fully aware of the fact that I had not earned the win.

Got trashed at the next (winners') round, though.

Having sated my thirst for pool, I resumed to sitting with the Ops staff and joining them in pretending to be having a good time.

She lost her wallet last night, by the way.
It's probably horrible of me, but I was inwardly dancing and twirling in happy little circles thinking: "Serves you right. What's the point of carrying all those credits card that you had not earned yourself. Now you get to lose them. Yay!"
It was probably horrid of me to think that, but I don't seem to recall ever having morals, so... no harm done. At least to me.
She found her wallet in the end.
Damn. Just when I was feeling so happy.

Somehow she knew that you didn't get many moments like this in your life: moments when you know, without any doubt, that you were alive, when you felt the air in your lungs and the wet grass beneath your feet and the cotton on your skin; moments when you were completely in the present, when neither the past nor the future mattered.
- WALL: A Prologue, By Neil Gaiman
Exclusive Material from Stardust

As for today, I revived the company SMS system.

To think that all that was needed was to pull out the USB, plug it back in, and reinstall the software, which of course I would have already done if it had been my computer. But I would rather not risk the company's assets with my instinctual reactions to the funny things that electronics do.

I've finally finished Neil Gaiman's Stardust today (woohoo!).
Returned it at Sembawang's library because a book I wanted to borrow was available there so I thought, why not just get it all done with today?

Well, the other reason for wanting- needing- to borrow something to read (besides the fact that I like to read- what? What's with that look? Fine, laugh all you want) was that it gives me enough of an excuse to not needing to participate in their brainless after lunch conversations (oh, the manicures... Cheap rebonding? Take me to Malaysia with you! Can I stay over at your place?... Must shop for new clothes because despite having a wardrobe full of them, I can't seem to find anything to wear! Oh, the horror! *Insert cringe-worthy high-pitched giggles*).

Plus, it's not as if any of them ever noticed when I talked. It's practically like I'm not even there.
Just this afternoon, I had to repeat myself no less than 5 times before resorting to raising my voice to finally get a response, which, wasn't much of an answer anyways.

The first time I say something: no reaction.
The next second when another person says the same thing (exact same thing, mind you), it's as if everyone received enlightenment then.

The first few times I read after finishing my lunch, they jokingly mentioned that it looked as if their conversation was too boring for me and I'd rather read (please, I'd rather swim than join in the talks about superficial and inconsequential stuff. Considering my fear of swimming, that's saying a lot already).

So I snorted and replied a No, I just liked to read.

Such rubbish. Of course I lied. It's my second nature, dammit.
If it could save me from repercussions, I would lie.
If it could prevent my more ugly, sarcastic and offensive thoughts from appearing in the spot light, I would lie.

Just what exactly made you think that I'm just dying to contribute to the conversation?
I don't know whether to say that they had overestimated my tolerance to airheads and stupidity (have I mentioned that stupid people, namely bimbos, tire me?), or to say that they've underestimated my evils just because I liked to read.

Tsk tsk tsk.
Haven't you heard about not judging a book by it's cover?
Or the one about the quiet ones being more dangerous?

And after thirty years had passed, all that remained in her memory was the sheen of green and violet on a magpie's wings: the knowledge that, when you got up close, it wasn't simply black and white.
- WALL: A Prologue, By Neil Gaiman
Exclusive Material from Stardust

Heroes, season 2, episode 8a, 8b

How I Met Your Mother, season 3, episode 8

2007-11-14T19:57:00.000+08:00

50th and 51st day of internship:

So totally tired for the past 2 days.
Amidst helping out with the Operations staff, I had to help the admin/receptionist with the preparation of Release Orders for this weekend's Singapore Expo exhibition, where we sponsor for some of the booths over there.
Naturally, there had been a fair bout of walking to-and-from between the two departments.

Oh, and the system that's installed into one of the company computers for sending and receiving SMSes is... screwed (for a lack of a nicer-sounding word), so I can't check incoming SMSes for installation workers' overtime hours.

Still, I was kept busy (thankfully) so the hours vanished faster.
Phew!

Company outing (and at the same time, celebration for having confirmed that we'll be receiving the branding award) tomorrow!
Karaoke~ Woohoo!
Although, I doubt there'll be enough time for everyone to get more than 2 turns each, considering that 25 of us are going.
Then again, I'm not staying long anyway. It's not like it'll be entertaining there, with the others being more interested in her airheaded and superficial conversation topics while I'm not only (in her own words, and so certainly am not) an otaku, but also (implied by her) am BORING.

To either be stupid with a head so emptily full of air and a face of beauty that's a farce, or be "boring" and bookworm-ish with enough knowledge that the weight of it knocks her far beyond next week...
I think the decision is pretty obvious.

2007-11-12T21:49:00.000+08:00

49th day of internship:

Whew!
Just got off the phone with YM.
Our topic changed (strangely) from Major Project arrangements to guys to internship life to MSN emoticons to Harry/Draco and finally to Koike Teppei.
It's nice; sort of reminds me that I'm still connected to the rest of the world, or rather, the eastern side of Singapore.

Well, work today resumed its hectic-ness, and it almost took me the whole day to complete checking the top-up and returned materials on the ROs, amidst the times when I had to make delivery confirmation calls, fill in ROs, key in over-time hours and service jobs, answer calls and- get this- help the boss's wife buy her lunch.

Like, hello, it's not as if she's a salesperson, or that she has things to do in the office.
I, on the other hand, had to answer calls for 3 other people while they take their turn for lunch and she expects me to abandon the calls just so she can eat?
What is she? Three-years-old?
Not feeling competent enough to buy her own lunch?

Naturally, I was swearing at her the whole trip to the canteen and back.

Anyway, I'm amazed that my CSI:Miami fanfiction has, in 20 hours, received more than half of the hits that my Wild Adapter fanfiction (posted 8 months ago) had.

Even as I was typing this, the numbers have reached 156.
And look!
Zero reviews still!
Pfft.

For the hits that The Bullet has, I am half glad and half upset.
If you do the maths, the conclusion is that in a same period of time, The Bullet has more reads than Novelty.
To say that I'm feeling a little... complicated, is quite an understatement, considering that Novelty is my first fanfiction and will therefore always be special to me.

2007-11-11T23:57:00.000+08:00

I have finally finished that CSI:Miami fanfiction I've started on Thursday!
Yayness!

Type: One-shot
Words: 941
Pairing: Eric/Ryan (HardyBoys)
Warnings: Slashy hints. Major spoilers for Season 5 episodes 14 and 15.
Rating: PG-13.

Disclaimer:
CBS, Anthony E. Zuiker, Carol Mendelsohn and Ann Donahue own CSI:Miami. I don't own anything related, save for some avatars.

Summary: There are things Ryan is uncertain of, just as there are things he has no doubts about.

( The Bullet )

Also available on my website. Check the sitemap if you ever get lost.

2007-11-10T22:14:00.000+08:00

48th day of internship:

I've finally finished that Management report for the month of October. Phew.
Filled in a few Release Orders, helped fill out and photocopied delivery schedules, made some confirmation calls, keyed in touch-up jobs into the Excel file...
Actually, time passed quite quickly today.
Thank goodness.

Anyway, I've just come back from Parkway because I needed a new pair of shoes.
The last pair was this close to disintegrating in situ... so... yup. Bought a new pair.

Plus, some guilty pleasures from Gramophone.
Ugh, the pain of parting with my money. However, my purchases perked me up. So there's no harm done.
At least, that's what I like to tell myself.

Koike Teppei's first solo album, pieces.
So looking forward to the lyric book/photo collection inside.
Ooh~ Pretty boy~

L'Arc~en~Ciel's AWAKE album back from 2005.
I've just never had the chance to buy it then.
L'Arc~en~Ciel!
*Dances crazily*

The Sound of Music.
Been wanting to get this since years ago (secondary2? secondary3? Can't remember) when MX mentioned it to me.
Blame it on our choir genes and fanaticism about all things musical.
Hello~ It's a classic musical! I just could NOT resist.

How I Met Your Mother, season 3, episode 7

2007-11-09T20:10:00.000+08:00

There's no need to tell,
No obligation to explain,
And no one will know.
So no one will judge,
And I won't have to look for answers
I know I can't find.

47th day of internship:

Despite only having the Management report to continue working on today, I was still fairly stressed.

Not because there are lots of things to do for that report, but rather that everyone in the Operations department (never fail to) get agitated whenever the clock reaches 5pm.

Reason?
Overly demanding sales staff having ridiculous and unreasonable requests one hour before office hours end.

And naturally, frustrated people intimidate me and I fear doing something wrong that would incur their wrath.
Heh. Just imagine: me, afraid. Pfft.

2007-11-07T21:25:00.000+08:00

46th day of internship:

Another busy day. Ugh. Oh, the abomination.

We had KFC for lunch today. The only high point of my day.
It was a treat from the sales personnel because they had gotten their incentive (ie. extra ka-ching) today.

Oh, and the pair of heeled shoes that I wear to work from Monday to Friday? It's falling apart. Or more specifically, the left of that pair is.
I mean, I wear them like I would a pair of Converse Classics.

'Nuff said.

Anyway, I was logging in to my FanFiction.Net account when I took a good look at the verification given to me this time.

Click here.
Oh the hilarity and coincidences.
(For those who don't quite understand what it means, I don't know if I should pity you, or laugh at your lack of basic knowledge.)

Heroes, season 2, episode 7a, 7b

2007-11-06T23:23:00.000+08:00

45th day of internship:

Had more things to do today than the yesterday. Which, is a good thing, lest I dehydrate from boredom.
Had more delivery comfirmation calls to make, more Release Orders to fill in, and I've only made it pass the first 40 invoice numbers of the management report that I was doing for the month of October. I didn't even have time to check the top-up and returned materials against the ROs.

( TP SIP E-Journal, 4 of 5 )

And I had another inspiration for a fanfiction.
Let's see if I can actually get it started and completed by this week.

2007-11-05T23:15:00.000+08:00

44th day of internship:

Boring boring boring routine stuff.

4 more weeks to go!!

*Runs off to rush that darn SIP e-journal*

2007-11-04T13:57:00.000+08:00

te.Art
For those who appreciatea

Jasmine flower; Lily; Silver needle green tea

Right, what's this, you ask?
I'm just being a real nice friend here and helping Zi Yang promote his Artisan tea.

Anyway, the tea is made of the highest-grade special green tea of fresh spring crops and natural herb flowers. These are picked young in early spring before they bloom so that it retains its subtle flavours while the shape is kept small and perfectly formed. Then, when seeped in hot water, the flower buds unfurl and reveal delicate flowers.

Jasmine flower; Gomphrene globosa; Silver needle green tea

*Ahem*
Now, it's take a look at the benefits.

Because the ingredients are selected from the finest green tea and natural herbs, artisan tea can improve your immunity system, skin complexion and helps prevent premature aging.
What's even better (to anyone like me who isn't too crazy about spending money), the tea buds can be infused several times (meaning: buy once, use many times) before the flavour starts to thin.

Yellow chrysanthemum; Silver needle green tea

So if you're health-conscious (as you should be, practically anything edible and inedible can cause cancer these days *note sarcasm*. No really, there is some truth there), it wouldn't hurt to try it out; allow yourself a few minutes of relaxation and simple luxury every few days, not to mention that it's pleasing to the eyes after it's prepared.

Camellia; Nasturtium; Silver needle green tea

Gomphrena globosa; Jasmine flower; Nasturtium; Silver needle green tea

Anyway, Zi Yang has 5 flavours available, along with packages, which are ideal gifts for anything from birthdays to Moon Cake festivals (or is my family the only one who drinks tea with moon cakes?).

Here're the prices:

Single Artisan Tea bud: $1.90
Any 3 Artisan Tea buds: $5.50 *only available to students*
Any 5 Artisan Tea buds: $8.90
Any 10 Artisan Tea buds: $16.90

*Prices are negotiable for larger quantity, though*

And there are tea wares available for purchase:

Check his site for more details on that.
But just so you'd know, each set includes ONE teapot, TWO teacups and TEN tea buds.
And a maximum of TWO teacups can be added at $1.50 each with every set purchased.

*All prices stated are in Singapore currency*

So if you still have any questions, click here or call him (Zi Yang) at 96236096.
Or you can send an email to Zi Yang by clicking here.

2007-11-03T22:35:00.000+08:00

43rd day of internship:

And that was yesterday. But I was tired and beyond exhausted by the time I got back home (to the east side).

Well, nothing much out of the usual happened yesterday, except I wrote something during the more... free minutes of work.

( An Unsent Letter )

It's also posted on my website, just follow the sitemap if you get lost.

Oh, and I've finally finished Fragile Things, by Neil Gaiman, today.
Just think, it was only years ago when I had more than enough free time to sit comfortably and read a book from start to finish in one sitting.
Those were the days, those were the days.

Had to renew/extend the due-date for Stardust, though. I haven't even started on it, much less finish it before it's due.

How I Met Your Mother, season 3, episode 6

2007-11-01T20:20:00.000+08:00

42nd day of internship:

For some strange reason, today wasn't as busy as the past few days.
And in the one hour after lunch, I was- yet again- close to falling asleep, as usual. Hah.

On-campus is just 2 days away!
Ugh. Which reminds me, I have to finish 4 weeks worth of internship reflection logs by tonight so that my supervisor can sign it tomorrow before I go back to school for on-campus.

Well, I guess it's time to start coming up with some nonsense for those reflection logs!

2007-10-31T23:44:00.000+08:00

41st day of internship:

*Yawns*

Am tired.
Did pretty much all the routine stuff, along with filling out claims for the workers to get back the money that they've spent on transport or other work-related stuff.

And please, just because I like to read, it doesn't make me an otaku.
Please get your brain organised before you use words too large for your comprehension.
Even my level of liking mangas and good (and talented) Japanese artistes barely crosses the border to make it fanatical enough to be otaku-ish.
Also, as I am very sure you don't know, it is somewhat along the lines of an insult to call someone an "otaku".
Need I explain more about what an otaku actually is?

Met up with WY at City Hall MRT after work for the launch of this game called Hellgate: London, at Funan IT Mall.
Wasn't really interested in it, but I thought, what the heck, I hardly go out anyways.
Yes, I am an impulsive creature. Sometimes I do things before I can realise fast enough to stop myself, and there are times when I make decisions against better judgement.

Saw KY and Noel there too, and because this sort of game is a guys' thing, Noel and WY seemed to hit it off straight away.
The only thing that interested me was that one scene in the trailer, where this large, winged monstor ripped out a girls' heart (or the front of her body) with its fangs.

KY and I went, "Ooh~ Blood! Gore! So cool!"

Really, it is, because you can see the blood spraying out and chunks of flesh and sinew spilling forward.

Anyway, we had dinner at KFC after that, where KY and I started telling stories about the strange people we know, thanks (or no thanks) to SIP (didn't realise the one about getting rid of dropped eyelashes would be such a hit), and stories back from our uniform-wearing days, which was where it seemed as if there was a barrier between us and the other two guys.
Well, they won't really understand the things we were talking about, anyways.
Plus, they were so absorbed in their... whatever their conversation was about; games and NCC stuff, I think.

On-campus is just 3 days away!
Woohoo! I feel so excited just thinking about going back to school for that one day.

Heroes, season 2, episode 6a, 6b

2007-10-30T20:40:00.000+08:00

40th day of internship:

Was quite busy today.
Had to write Release Orders for the few companies that our company sponsors at the Expo exhibition at the end of this week.
Other than that, it's all pretty much the same as the past few weeks.

Bored, and tired.
Not a healthy combination.

Anyways, despite not churning out much for Aki Kitsune, I've managed to write and post my very first drabble, which drabbles are- by the way- exactly of 100 words.
Very difficult to keep it within the word limit, but I persevered and the result isn't too bad.
It is a first try, after all.

( Waiting )

Or this link to my website, it's under the "ficlet" section, use the sitemap if you're confused.

2007-10-29T20:33:00.000+08:00

39th day of internship:

Tired tired tired...
Stayed up until past 1am last night reading through a fanfiction and its sequel.

Anyway, I finished up the whole checking over-time hours with the installation workers and did pretty much the same thing as I had been doing the whole time.

And while I was walking to the MRT station this morning, I had inspiration for- not one, but- two drabbles.
After rereading that drabble (that WY said was erotic) just less than an hour ago, I've came to the conclusion that it isn't (so get your mind out of the gutter, mister).
So... who knows? I might post that drabble too.

2007-10-28T11:29:00.000+08:00

I now have the L'Arc~en~Ciel 15th L'Anniversary Live concert DVD.

Am happy.

And I've changed my mind.
There is something hotter than hyde in leather pants:

hyde in leather pants AND leather vest-jacket AND eyeliner.

*Melts*

Photographs are taken while playing the second disc:
"Extra" chapter, song: Pieces.